OBKA Taster Day 2023 – 12th August

Oxfordshire Beekeepers Association’s Annual Taster Day is designed to give members of the public a short introduction to beekeeping and a hands-on session at our Training Apiary near Woodstock. Of course we hope that many attendees will consider signing up for our Beginners Course. However we are equally happy if it helps some people recognise that beekeeping is not for them.

We run a morning and afternoon sessions for around 15 people per session.

We start by getting everyone into bee suits that we provide. In previous years we have been able to use a classroom at the school where our Training Apiary is located but it was not available this year so we set up a gazebo where attendees got into their bee suits. We then have a session where using a demo hive we show attendees the components of a hive. (Click on any picture below to see a larger version).

Once attendees have an idea of what they are going to see it’s off into the Apiary itself to open some bee colonies.

We split into three groups so all attendees get a chance to handle frames of bees and honey. The tutors point out what is happening on the frames – workers, drones, the queen, waggle dance, bees with pollen……this list is (almost) endless. And of course there are lots of questions

After the session at the Apiary it’s back to the gazebo for some refreshments and a Q&A session.

If attendees are interested in becoming beekeepers at the end of the session we encourage them to keep an eye on the OBKA website for when the Beginners Course is advertised.

With thanks to:

The Taster Day takes a lot of organising and OBKA’s thanks for all their hard work before and during the day:

Eric Perkins, Julie Macken, Andy Pedley, Peter Hawkins, Dawn French, Loretta Newton, Nick Keene, Psyona Williams, Yvonne Parks, Joanne Payne and Phil Hart.

Photos credit: Psyona Williams, Andy Pedley.