Hexham Beekeepers Association

It is five years to the day since Hexham Beekeepers Association's new apiary was opened.  On 10th June 2012 there was a small ceremony overseen by our then chairman, the late and much missed Robert Furniss.

The opening was performed by Brian Ripley from Alnwick Beekeepers Association, our sister organisation.

I had only just joined HBKA and I was yet to get my first bees so I didn't then know most of the people in the photo below at the time.  It was a cool cloudy day on what turned out to be one of the better days of a terrible summer.

As luck would have it, while we were enjoying tea and cakes a swarm was noticed in an apple tree just the other side of the fence.

This was an ideal opportunity for Robert to demonstrate collection of the swarm, the first time I had seen it done.

Robert had a home made swarm collection box with built in queen excluder.  Here the bees are fanning to encourage stragglers.

Some bees were left on the tree for a short while before finding their way to the box to join the queen.

HBKA has gone from strength to strength since then with a burgeoning membership and continued development of the association apiary.