From the Chair,

Welcome to South West Hampshire Beekeepers (or SWHBK for short).

As you are reading this I assume you must be a beekeeper or someone thinking about becoming a beekeeper – either way you are very welcome in our club.

We are a realtively new beekeeping club, but don’t let that put you off as we can offer all the facilities an experienced or new beekeeper may need. Perhaps our greatest asset is that we are a new club and are all enthusiastic and keen to help others.

We have monthly members meetings where you can get to know, chat with and learn from other beekeepers. Exchanging and sharing experience is a great way to learn about beekeeping because the bees seem to do things differently every time.

We arrange for visiting speakers to give talks on a variety of topics that will be of interest to both novice and experienced beekeepers. Check out our Events listing for details of the speakers and topics already scheduled for this year.endar.

We offer two training courses, one for the beginner, the other for the beekeeper with some experience who may want to build upon the skills the already have or perhaps wish to start gaining qualifications.

The beginners course will take you from knowing nothing or very little about bees to feeling confident enough to look after your first colony, along with the added of hands-on apiary training and summer evenings on site. You will continue to have support once your course is completed as we have experienced beekeepers to offer you advice at the apiary or over the phone. You can make use of your mentor or bee buddy, as you prefer – you will not be alone.

We hope you will join us and look forward to meeting you at one of our meetings.