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NEW ZEALAND BEEKEEPER, NOVEMBER 2016
HOBBYISTS’ CORNER/BEE AWARE MONTH
WANGANUI CLUB GOES ALL OUT FOR BAM
Anne Hulme, Wanganui Beekeepers Club
Wanganui Beekeepers Club was very active spreading the word during Bee Aware Month. Our activities culminated in a very successful informative beekeeping stall at the local Riverside Market, where we were lucky to have a sheltered outside site against a brick wall, in good view of the public.
We had been preparing for two months by potting up bee-loving plants and bagging seeds to give away and we had a large selection of free cuttings also that were popular. The Wanganui Garden Club was very good in donating more plants, which helped to attract the public to our display as well. The children had a colouring-in competition that the schools and the library helped to distribute. We received a mountain of entries, and the noticeboard with their winning entries interested the children while their parents looked at the displays. The children did enjoy tasting the different types of honey and in talking to them, it was evident that they had a very good knowledge of the benefits of bees in their environment. Some of the schools had been studying the bees and had visited local apiaries as well.
that and will just have the usual frame of honey next year. Our bee club took the opportunity to talk about the benefits that financial members can get. As a result, we were overwhelmed at our last meeting with 20 or so new beekeepers wanting to join. They are all asking for instruction or help with their beehives, or even needing to purchase bees for the coming season. Now the committee is wondering how we are going to cope with the influx of novices in the future. The beekeepers on market duty enjoyed talking to the public and feel that it was well worth all the time and effort we spent preparing for our share of promoting BAM.
The local Springvale Garden Centre supplied a very informative placard and a table full of organic sprays and pesticides that gardeners could use that do not harm bees, when used correctly according to the label. That table attracted a lot of attention and stimulated many a conversation about the need to protect our bees. The glass hive of bees created a disturbance for a while at the beginning of the day when the local bees flew in to inspect the invaders. That problem was eventually solved by covering up the top vent and just leaving the screened floor open, for air. That has never happened before and we came to the conclusion that it was because the bees had been given some extra sugar syrup in the early morning for sustenance. We learnt from
The final shift of club members. Left to right: Michael Brandon, Pam Moore, Gaylene Reid, Margaret Tauri, and Liz Houlahan. Photo: Tim Benseman.
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