The National Honey Show, Sandown Park Race Course
Just a brief reminder to everybody that we have the National honey show coming up at the end of October. This is held at Sandown Park racecourse in the outskirts of London.
You can have a look at the program of lectures and the workshops that are offered on line. This year I am particularly interested in one of the lectures that Clarence Collison will be giving. That is because he will be looking at factors affecting Queen quality. I think that some of us are beginning to have problems with Queens and I have seen two colonies this year where although there were a lot of bees and a new queen, the Queen never really started to lay eggs. I find this quite alarming and is the first time I have come across this.
The honey show is held over the course of three days. The best day to go is really Friday. However there are interesting lectures and workshops every day. If you are interested in doing a workshop it is absolutely fundamental that you book that on the 1st of September. If you don’t, you may find that it is booked out.
There are also sessions for beginners or people who have only been keeping bees for a couple of years. These are always interesting sessions and a Master beekeeper always takes these.
I will be taking up my honey to show, as well as other people’s honeys. If you are interested in doing that you can download an entry form and I could take that honey up for you on Thursday morning, 25th October. It costs £1 to enter and I would suggest entering class five because the judge gives a comment about every single honey in that class. If you are not going up, I will report back with any comments. This is a gift class and you do not get back your honey – so be warned.
N.B.No incipient granulation, please. If you get three jars of honey to me well beforehand I will titivate and enter two jars having stood them in my honey warming cabinet. I need three jars in order to ensure the best presentation of the two required jars.
Malcolm Wilkie 30th August 2018