AGM of the East Lothian Beekeepers Association – Provisional minutes

 

Held at the Haddington Town House 24th February 2005 7.30pm (15 present)

 

1. Apologies were received from Jean Peddie, Ross Langlands and Michael Hill

 

2. The previous Minutes from 9th October 2003 were circulated and approved.

 

3. The Treasurer presented a summary of the Accounts for the period 1/9/03-31.12.04.

                                                                        (1.9.02-31.08.03)

            Initial balance                £293.29           (£275.36)

            Income                         £400.68           (£220.69)

            Expenditure                  £113.35           (£202.76)

            Final Balance                £580.62           (£293.29)

 

4. The meeting decided that the membership fee should be maintained at £5.00

 

5. The Treasurer displayed the membership card she has produced, printed on blue card,

the colour to vary each year in accordance with standard queen marking colours.

 

6. The President, Secretary and Treasurer were all re-elected unopposed to office.

The following members indicated their willingness to form a committee: Colin McIntosh,

Mike Bain, Gordon Biggar, Pat McErlean and David Marshall. The Secretary will find

and copy the Association constitution which dates from the 1940s.

 

7. The Secretary gave an account of the previous year’s activities.

 

The Association apiary was moved temporarily from Alderston to George Barton’s apiary

 at Jerusalem because of building work.

 

A new Association library was begun with donations from Tom Ramage and Donald Smith

and acquisitions from Association funds. There was no trace of the previous Association

 library in the Moir library or in East Lothian Council’s archives, although it had been given

to the Haddington library for safekeeping in the 1960s.

 

We had a talk on 18th March 2004 by Bob Simpson and a display on beekeeping was prepared

 for the Haddington Library. George Barton and Colin McIntosh attended an SBA course on

Varroa and presented the information to the Association on 22nd April 2004. A map of apiary sites

 in the county was started to help monitor the spread of Varroa. Apiary visits during the summer

 of 2004 were on 16th May to George Barton, Jerusalem, 20th June to Peter Radband and

Michael Croughan, Gifford, 18th July to Donald Smith, Clerkington, and 8th August to

Ian and Rosamond Robertson, Newlands.

 

The Association won second prize for its display at the Haddington show on the 3rd July, the

 observation hive prepared by Peter Radband being the highlight. The honey section at the

Gifford Show on 21st August was poorly attended.

 

An Association website (www.eastlothianbeekeepers.org.uk) has been developed by Mike Bain

and is becoming an important reference point for the Association.

           

The first report of Varroa in the county was from several hives at Whittingehame in October.

 A single mite was also found at Beech Hill following the return of bees from the heather where

they had been sited close to hives brought from Dalkeith and subsequently found to be infected.

Varroa is also present at numerous sites on the western edge of the county.

 

A capacity audience on 13th January 2005 heard Graeme Sharpe of Auchincruive talk on Varroa.

 Apistan strips for Varroa screening were distributed free to members thanks to a grant from the

COOP (value equivalent to about £130). A study group working towards the Basic Beemaster

 Certificate met on 20th January 2005 in the Tyneside Tavern, Haddington, and is continuing to meet

fortnightly there at 8.00pm.

 

There were 26 paid up members although the newsletter is circulated to about 50 individuals,

partly by post and partly by email.

 

8. Correspondence to the Secretary:

            a. Letter of thanks from Haddington library for display, invitation to repeat.

            b. Letter from Moir library to effect that it doesn’t have our Association books

            c. Letter from Scottish Executive - importation of queen bees from outside EU

            d. Request from SASA for samples of Varroa mites for virus survey

            e. Invitation to attend the LEAF farm at Woodhead, Gifford.

 

9. Other business:

            a. The secretary confessed to not having made good use of the committee and promised to seek

 their advice and ask for their help more in the future.

            b. There was some discussion about the choice of site for the Association apiary, with Alderston,

 Amisfield and Haddington House Garden as good possibilities. It was also suggested to approach James

 Wylie at Stenton Fruit Farm.

            c. There is to be a visit from Slow Food Edinburgh on 4th June, held jointly with George Hood.

            d. The Haddington Show will be on 2nd July and we have asked for 4 tables and hope to get first prize!

 Ideas for attracting children include candle rolling.

There was discussion about the possibility of having a generator for melting wax.

            e. There was support for the idea of producing an introductory leaflet about beekeeping that could

 be handed out at the Haddington Show and other public events.

            f. The secretary suggested that we try to arrange some school visits. Mike Bain has BBKA material

 suitable for this that the Association could acquire a copy of. Margaret Dunning has already been asked to

visit her local school.

            g. A list of Association members who are willing to collect swarms will be made available to East Lothian

 Council and the Police. Mention was made of having a swarm coordinator who could match swarm collectors

 with those wanting swarms.

            h. A request was made for a heather picnic to be included in the coming year’s

program.

 

10. Close of meeting.