This is in support of our friends at Witney Bees:

Witney Bees has been appointed by Waitrose as one of just 3 organisations for the month of September to be a beneficiary of their ‘Green Token’ scheme.

Every customer gets a green token(s) at the till when they pay for food and goods. Customers can choose one of the 3 nominated local groups each time they shop during the month of September.

Waitrose donate £1000 each month in each store, to be split between the local groups depending on how many tokens each group gets.

Please spread the word to your friends and family that shop in the Waitrose in Witney and look out for our token collection boxes just after the tills.

The Autumn apiary clean up and Winter Inspection is on Sunday 8th September.

Details have been updated in the Events Calendar so please take a look – and if you are going please let the Apiary Manager, Jonathan, know.

Emma James-English from Oxfam GB has contacted us as an organisation concerned about bees to see if any of our members would be interested in supporting their first crowdfunding project:

‘As a fellow organisation with a shared interest in bees, I wanted to reach out to share an exciting project!

We have just launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise £60,000 to support a beekeeping enterprise we are running with our partner, SBKI, in Nepal.

The project supports small-holder farmers to become beekeepers.

If you are interested in the project, and especially if you are interested in contributing to the project, there is a huge amount of information on the project’s crowdfunding website:  https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/oxfambeesfornepal

Details of a number of Queen Rearing courses being run by the BBKA in 4 locations across the Country from August to September are in the Member’s area.

3 July 2019

The first Asian Hornet of 2019 on UK mainland has been found in New Milton in Hampshire close to the New Forest. The Department of Environment, Food, & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) issued a press release saying it was spotted by an eagle-eyed member of the public, is thought to be a Queen and that inspectors are now in the area looking for a nest.

For further details see the BBKA Website.

See the Members section for details of some potential training courses that Mark Blanchette is proposing to run if there is enough interest.

A nursery near Reading is looking for a beekeeper to talk to their 3+ year-old’s about beekeeping. See the Classifieds section for full details.

We have a number of potential apiary sites being ‘advertised’ in the Classifieds section of the member’s Area – click on this link to see them (member’s password required for access).

See the new Classified’s section in the Members area for details of potential apiary sites and equipment for sale.

The minutes of the 2019 AGM are now available in the Members area.