SurreyBeeKeeper.co.ukFor all your Beekeeping needs

Well what an interesting evening. Tonight I attended the “Big Buzz” event hosted by the Organic people at Abel and Cole deemed an “eccentric bunch” by the founder Keith Abel. Eccentric they may be considering hosting an event about beekeeping with the constant threat of beekeepers actually being present but I have to say the pulled it off exceptionally well.

Now considering my usual Wednesday evening activities of meeting up with the Reigate Beekeepers this was something quite different. Usually I meet up with a group of about 50 beekeepers, an average age of about 55, most having beards, most with a slightly rounded belly and all definitely having a slight reddening of the cheeks which may (or may not) suggest a penchant for the odd tipple. In fact talking of tipples, after these sessions a short trip to the local is called upon and discussions about particular breweries ensues with occasional polite references to cider. Wine is distinctly off the menu as stories are shared and experiences recounted. Tonight was something totally different.

I approached the venue, in the shadow of the beautiful old power station, and was met immediately with a choice of Prosecco, white wine or rose. My Reigate Beekeepers would probably never have heard of Prosecco and an opinion would definitely have been had about Rose wine. As I walked through I was also struck by several factors. Firstly the average age of people in the room was about 20 years younger than I was used to, none of them looked remotely like a morris dancer (regular readers of this blog will note my references to the personalities of beekeeping and morris dancing as being pretty similar) and there was even a Jazz band in the room. I have a feeling my association comrades would have fainted by now at the shock of it all.

I have to say it was a very impressive set up and really interesting to see the calibre of person in the room. It just shows the difference between rural and urban beekeeping trends as well as the scope of interest that the subject is receiving right now.

It felt slightly weird arriving on my own especially as the others around me seemed a pretty cool bunch – something I had not been expecting – but I was fortunate to bump into a Twitter friend of mine @helpsavebees, otherwise known as Damian, the founder of a campaign to raise awareness of all types of bee (click here for the Help Save Bees website) and his guru in the design world, Liz. Really nice to meet up with them and discuss the world of bees.

Anyway, the talks got under way and it was all introduced by the charismatic founder of Abel and Cole, Keith – I say charismatic as I like a man who wanders around an event like that with a glass of wine in one hand and a bottle in the other, filling up as he went around, good man – who gave a basic introduction and who introduced Steve Benbow, the founder of The London Honey Company.

Things were looking up here, Steve had a beard (probably the only one in the room) but he is stick thin and is also a young chap. A very charismatic speaker and one most passionate about the subject of beekeeping. It is of no surprise therefore, that after some years of dealing with bees, he now appears to be running a pretty successful business (I would hope so considering the effort he has to go through to manage 850 hives dotted around the country)

Steve covered a range of topics which included his starting out – why, in his 2^ndyear, putting a hive on a barge situated on the River Thames was not a great idea – tide movements caused havoc with the bees natural GPS systems it seemed. Imagine arriving home and discovering that your home was now 10metres below where you left it! – and his progression to where he is today. He discussed his hives now placed on Fortnum and Mason (the picture here shows the grandness of those particular F&M hives, quite incredible but very suiting of the venue!), not to mention Tate Modern and also talked about hives in many different locations around the UK.

One of the highlights for me was the honey tasting. Being a honeyphobe this was most interesting because I haven’t tasted that much honey but here Steve had compiled four different types on a plate to compare. The one that I was most amazed with was the Oilseed Rape Honey which was basically the colour and consistency of lard – most unusual. I had never expected to see a white honey but, as you can see in the photo, it was almost the colour of the plate. There was also examples of his urban honey not to mention his heather honey which was fantastic; I cannot recommend it enough. Quite gritty it has to be said but I was converted. I can now say I am converted. Lets hope I can extract a jar of honey for myself this year……

There were two other speakers who were also interesting in their own ways. The shortest speech of the evening was given by a representative of the BBKA, Barnaby Shaw and was basically promoting the Adopt a Hive campaign which is being powered along by SAGA (click here for more information). Its a shame Barnaby didn’t really talk for longer as I am sure there were a lot of people in that room who would have wanted to know a little more but to be honest it was pretty hard to follow Steve and also Anita.

Anita was another accomplished speaker who obviously knew what she was talking about. Dr. Anita Malhotra came all the way from Wales to discuss Bee Genetics and it was a very eye opening talks about their efforts to breed the best sort of bee. It is incredible the science going into this at the moment. However, given the extent of the global problems the honey bee is having, perhaps it is no surprise. Perhaps, my favourite quote of the night came from Anita however. She stated that “Wales is a reservoir of genetic diversity”. I only hope she was talking about the bees (sorry Wales!). However, being serious for a moment, Anita’s work is obviously of great importance and so if you want to read a little bit more here is a link to a recent BBC article about it which you may find of interest – click here

All in all, a very entertaining meeting and all the more so for meeting up with a few friendly faces. Damion and Liz I have already mentioned. Another mention has to go to Alison Benjamin, co author of “The World Without Bees” who is a really great resource for anyone who wants to know about the problems bees are facing.

Suffice to say, well done Abel and Cole, a great evening had by all. I am going to bed now as it is far far too late to be writing a blog!