East Lothian Beekeepers' Association

(Founded 1887 – Scotland's Oldest Local Association)

www.eastlothianbeekeepers.org.uk

Newsletter 154 January 2010

New year, new secretary!

After years of hard work keeping the Association organised and

informed Donald Smith stepped down as secretary at the AGM, so

before I introduce myself I'd like to thank him on behalf of all the

members for all his excellent work on our behalf.

It's a hard act to follow, but my name's Jo Dodds and as the

Association’s new secretary I'll do my best to fill Donald's shoes.

Having studied the beginner's course last year I set up my own pair of

hives in June, so I'm very much a novice beekeeper. I wouldn't have had

the confidence to get started without the assistance I received from the

Association, so I'm keen that we help more beginners get going and

would like to encourage them (and everyone else!) to come along to

meetings where they can pick up tips from members and speakers with a

wealth of experience.

I'll do my best to bring my own new ideas to the post, but would also

love to hear those of other members, so please get in touch. My contact

details are at the end of the newsletter and I look forward to hearing

from you!

AGM 2010

The AGM was held at 7.30pm on 20th January and was well attended

with 30 members present. The minutes of the meeting are as follows:

1. Apologies Colin Macintosh

2. The minutes of the AGM held on 22nd January 2009 were approved.

3. The Treasurer presented the accounts for the year to 31st December

2009 as summarised below:

Income Expenditure

Subscriptions £290.00 Hall hire £108.00

Honey sales £392.00 Speakers £31.80

Bee sales £175.00 Post Office £34.92

Candle sales £56.63 Beekeeping supplies £105.77

Bank interest £1.40 Bhopal donation £250.00

Other £45.75 Books and film £126.00

Total £960.78 Depreciation £27.50

Total £683.99

Surplus for the year £276.79

The Treasurer noted that subscriptions were up from the previous year,

and that appreciable sums were made from the sale of honey, bees and

candle rolling at the Haddington Show. The Bank balance stands at

£1219.73. The meeting voted to keep the membership fee unchanged at

£5.00.

4. The President reported on the year's events which included round–

table discussions of basic beekeeping (intended to help beginners but

poorly attended), weekly visits to the Association apiary which were

hampered by poor weather (these will moved to midday at weekends

this year), the stall at the Haddington Show, and the very popular public

screening of "The Vanishing of the bee". He also noted the donation

made to Eurig Scandrett to promote beekeeping at Bhopal.

5. Jo Dodds was elected as Secretary and George Barton and Rosemary

Carthy were re-elected as President and Treasurer respectively. Donald

Smith will continue to look after the library and coordinate the display

for the Haddington Show.

6. The meeting discussed the pros and cons of limiting the term that

office bearers can serve, eventually agreeing that section 3 of the

constitution be altered to read "The office bearers shall be three in

number:- President, Secretary and Treasurer, these officers to be elected

annually at the AGM, each office bearer to not normally serve more than

three years before relinquishing the position to another member."

George Hood commented that because the winter program had been

limited to round table discussions, there had been no outside speakers

and emphasised how important it was to hear expert beekeepers from

other areas speaking about practical beekeeping. The meeting agreed to

buy a banner for use at the Haddington Show and other events saying

"East Lothian Beekeepers Association" - and without an apostrophe!

Membership Subscriptions 2010

The subscription for this year remains great value at five pounds! Please

print out and fill in the attached membership form and return it to the

Treasurer Rosemary Carthy, at the address at the end of the newsletter.

Winter Meetings Programme – Haddington Town House, 7.30pm

Donald Smith has lined-up some great speakers, so why not come along

to listen and quiz the experts (and enjoy tea and biscuits afterwards)?

17th February “Selecting, Rearing and Introducing Queens Using Honey

Producing Colonies.” Ian Craig, immediate past president of the Scottish

Beekeepers Association will speak about this fascinating process.

17th March “Beekeeping Around the World.” Eurig Scandrett will give a

talk about the beekeeping project he has initiated in Bhopal, India,

including information about honey's role in ayurvedic medicine. If you

have exotic beekeeping stories or photos from far flung lands then your

contributions would be welcome too.

21st April “Practical Beekeeping.” A masterclass from George Hood, our

vastly experienced and knowledgeable local commercial beekeeper.

Disease

Following the AGM Angus McGaskill and Jim Anderson, our local bee

inspectors, gave a sobering account of their work during 2009's Scottish

foul brood outbreaks. They noted that American and European Foul

Brood can both be tricky to detect and as a result had unwittingly been

spread by beekeepers in Inverness-shire, Perthshire and Aberdeenshire.

Sealed brood is normally affected by AFB, so watch for a “pepper-pot”

pattern, sunken darkened cell cappings, “ropy” larval remains that draw

out like chewing gum on a matchstick and dark scales stuck inside cells.

EFB usually affects unsealed brood and can result in erratic brood

pattern, twisted larvae, wax-like yellowed larvae and a nasty sour odour.

https://secure.fera.defra.gov.uk/beebase/public/BeeDiseases/foulbrood.cfm

Thankfully neither disease has been detected in East Lothian to date, but

source new bees locally to minimise the risk of spreading disease, be

wary of collecting swarms and if you're worried about the health of your

bees contact the inspectors immediately via the SGRIPD Area Office at:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/farmingrural/Agriculture/grants/Inspections

North Berwick Biodiversity Festival – Sunday 18th April

East Lothian Council's Biodiversity Officer has asked if we'd like to

participate in this event. He's keen for exhibits to have a practical

element, so if you've got any ideas or could help out on the day I'd be

glad to hear from you!

New Members

Welcome to Peter and Liz Moore, Louise Muir and Bryan Delahunty.

Jo Dodds – Secretary Rosemary Carthy – Treasurer

20 King's Avenue 3 Castlemains Cottages

Longniddry Dirleton

EH32 0QN EH39 5EG

01875 852916

joannawhittingham@googlemail.com