All about us
Last Updated on Saturday, 14 November 2009 12:28
Are you a new member looking to take up beekeeping? Wondering what Reigate Beekeepers are doing to save the bees? Trying to decide which club to join? Well why not start with a look at what we are doing.... we are always looking for new members, from complete beginners to advanced beekeepers to those wishing to return to the hobby.
We offer practical and class room based training, with assistance and support once an apiary is setup by a member. Advice on selecting the best position for hives, (often by a visit from an experienced beekeeper) or assistance in finding out-apiaries, through to dissection of bees for annual health checks.
RBKA is a very pro-active club, ranging from social events, winter lectures, practical training........ see a guide below......
Reigate Beekeepers must be amongst the busiest of associations in Surrey. Here's a summary of the club currently.
- At 162 members, we are the amongst the largest clubs in Surrey.
- At least 100 events have been organised by RBKA members.
- 44 ‘divisional events’ ranging from a visit to an infant’s school with an observation hive to a two day health tour by our Regional Bee Inspector.
- Attended at least 23 shows ranging from small village fetes to a two day effort at Polesden Lacey with 20 stewards and around 5,000 visitors.
- Members gave at least 12 talks to W.I. groups prior to their decision to debate ways of supporting honey bees at their AGM in the Albert Hall.
- There have been seven media events at our apiary from ITV news to local radio.
- 122 people have benefited from courses we ran during the year. Some examples are:
- 22 people attended our winter course
- 36 people attended a taster day in May
- We ran a day for the benefit of Surrey Tree Wardens
- Our honey extraction day was run as a teaching event with 20 people learning the ropes and extracting 190 pounds of honey at the same time.
- We ran two bee health clinics testing over 100 colonies from 24 apiaries and trained prospective microscopists at the same time.
- Our weekly practical evenings regularly had more than 50 members present.
- Our members achieved
- 9 BBKA basic passes
- 8 module passes
- 1 General Husbandry pass (taking us to 5 active members with
- this qualification.) We believe there is one other person with this
- qualification among the other 7 Surrey divisions
- In service to the community our swarm team took 195 calls, attended 120 incidents and took 70 swarms.