Our August Newsletter is ready for your perusal. If you have any comments on the content please do contact us.

August Newsletter

Due to popular demand, Kingston Beekeepers will be having a 'Beekeeping Taster Day' on Saturday the 25th September 2010. 

We are also currently planning a series of evening beekeeping theory sessions in January/February 2011, these will be especially aimed at beginners and improvers. More details to follow.

Kingston Beekeepers can provide your local group or school with a short talk or presentation, giving you an insight into the fascinating world of the honey bee. What really goes on inside that wooden box called a hive? How many bees does it take to make one jar of honey? How do bees spend the winter months. Lots of questions and hopefully lots of answers to be provided by our experienced beekeepers.

Please contact us for more details

Here at Kingston Beekeepers Association we are pleased to announce that this year's (2010) crop of honey is now available. Some of this summer's honey has already been extracted and more will become available over the next few weeks.  Please be aware however, that due to the increased demand for local honey, our stocks are likely to run out in a few short months. Please email via the 'CONTACT US' page  where we can keep you up to date with supplies.  Our locally produced honey is priced at £6 per jar (454g  / 1lb)

We also sell our own handmade beeswax candles ranging in price from £2.50 to £8.00 per candle, depending on size. Please contact us for further details.

We also produce our own beeswax polish - £3.50 for 90g. Please contact us for further details.

We've just added a new Bee Hive manufacturer and supplier to our links page ('other sites' page). They are based in Farnborough, Hampshire and are specialists in "Hot wax impregnation" hives which acts as a timber preservative, lasting years and protecting against fungi, damp, preventing disease penetration and overall seals the joints. They are called Bees-Knees Hives.

There is a new supplier of beehives and equipment listed in our 'OTHER SITES' page. They are called Beechwood Bees. Their hives are made from pine and can be supplied either assembled or flat packed. Worth noting that they are supplied Post and Packing FREE.

Click here to open a map on HOW TO GET THERE

We have been contacted by a local supplier of Cedar National Hives, produced in a small local workshop in Hounslow. They certainly look like excellent quality and any interested parties can visit the workshop to check out for themselves, by prior arrangement. www.thebeehiveworkshop.co.uk

How to get to The Church Hall 

Bee News Dec. 2009

THE NATIVITY - Albrecht Dürer, 1471 – 1528.

Durer was a German painter, printmaker and theorist from Nuremberg. His prints established his reputation across Europe when he was still in his twenties, and he has been conventionally regarded as the greatest artist of the Northern Renaissance ever since. His nativity illustrates what artists have done all through the ages, taking the nativity story and putting it into his own 15th century setting. (Dave Priest, editor.)

Surrey Beekeepers Association - Kingston Division

Supplier and manufacturer of National Hives and components......and an interesting website to boot!

Worth checking out.  -  http://www.peak-hives.co.uk/

National Honey Show – Weybridge, Surrey 29th to 31st October 2009

Are you new to beekeeping? Would you like to see what honey, combs, wax and mead should really look like? The National Honey Show is the ‘gold standard’ honey show - the equivalent of Wimbledon for tennis players. There are almost 250 classes and beekeepers come from all over the world to enter so it is truly an international show.

Walking around the displays is an education in itself. A full programme of workshops and lectures will run during the show and there will be a wide selection of trade stands with lots of equipment and books to buy. If you are in your first year of beekeeping you can get in free! Your association secretary must apply for this on your behalf to the NHS General Secretary before the end of July. Contact the Rev. HF Capener, 1 Baldric Road, Folkestone , CT20 2NR. Email showsec@zbee.com

If you have already had success at your local or county show, why not enter some of the classes? Many counties have their own classes within the show – or you can put yourself up against the experts in the open classes to see how you measure up. As you do your extracting, why not keep that perfect frame aside? A little planning now will give you lots of potential show entries.

The 2009 schedule of classes and entry application is available from the membership secretary, Sandra Rickwood. Please telephone her for a copy on 020 33 55 8716 and leave your name and address after the recorded message. It will soon be available on the National Honey Show website www.honeyshow.co.uk where you can also find lots of interesting information about the show.

The show is at St Georges College, Woburn Hill, Weybridge, Surrey, KT15 2QS (follow the A317 from junction 11 of the M25) on Thursday 29(2.00pm to 6pm) Friday 30 (9.30am to 6pm) and Saturday 31 October (9.30am to 4.45pm).

Admission for non-members is £12 but you can become a member of the National Honey Show for £10 (or £11 via PayPal) and then entry is free for all three days. Accompanied children of 16 years and under are free and additional family members over 16 years living at the same address can come in for £5 each. On Saturday admission after 12 noon is £5 for everyone. You can join at the door or by contacting the membership secretary, Mrs Sandra Rickwood, 19 Kenwood Drive, Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, KT12 5AU. Alternatively, email srhoneyshow@googlemail.com or telephone 020 3355 8716 and leave a message.