Beekeepers Spring Convention 18 April

The Beekeepers Spring Convention is a big day in the diary of a beekeeper. Its a chance to pick up bargains from the vendors, to attend lectures and demonstrations, to socialise, and ... bump into a famous person like Bill Turnbull.

Bill was at the Bees for Development stand to officially open the new website.

I was there with my bike to draw attention to the stand and raise funds in support of LEL (raised almost £130) - will try and get hold of a picture with me in it.

It was a great day, met most of the trustees, many volunteers and the core staff like Nicola Bradbear, Helen Jackson and Elaine Spencer. I attended Nicola Bradbear's lecture. The picture below illustrates one of the challenges in development. People want to "modernise" beekeeping, but its just impractical to hoist a framed hive into a tree: they are heavy and come apart easily. The reason hives are lifted off the ground is to avoid termite damage.

This 'overdevelopment' is something BfD advocate against.