A gathering of around 500 people – some dressed in white, and all of them shrouded in a hazy pall of smoke – gathered in the New Palace Yard in Westminster, ready to lobby their Members of Parliament. The beekeepers had gathered, with smokers and placards, at the request of the British Beekeepers Association to make it clear to parliament that they were not satisfied with the paltry sum of money the government had proposed to allocate to bee research. The Kingston club was represented by six members, including Tim who was at the forefront marshalling the troops and giving press interviews in his role of president of the BBKA.
Once we had got Allison and Andy’s smokers lit we gathered around King George’s statue to be addressed by Tim and Dr Ian Gibson, MP for North Norfolk. Dr Gibson has championed our cause in parliament and, as an entomologist, has a clear understanding of the issues involved. Then we headed off to Downing Street and,once there, waited while six members of the BBKA entered through the gates to presented our petition, with its 148,000 signatures, to the Prime Minister’s representative at number 10. Then it was back to the Houses of Parliament to lobby our MPs.
The queue to get into the House was long, so we were particularly pleased when we spotted Ed Davey, MP for Kingston, talking to some beekeepers, these turned out to be his wife and friends. Ed’s mother-in-law keeps 8 hives on her land in Dorset and also makes sure that Ed is aware of the issues that worry beekeepers. His wife had borrowed a friend’s bee suit so that she could attend the demonstration and had dressed their baby son as a chubby bumble bee, (see photograph). It was good to talk to him and to see that he was genuinely interested in the issue of bee research funding and the future of beekeeping in the UK. He promised that he would support any motions in parliament that related to research funding and also to keep the issue of bee health at forefront of the Liberal Democrats’ agenda.
