News & Events
SWHBK Members' Meetings & Events​​​​​​​​​
01/04/26 Club practical - topic to be confirmed
06/05/26 Dylan Gussman - 'Drone congregation areas'
03/06/26 speaker tbc
​Venue - all meetings take place at Boldre War Memorial Hall, Boldre, Lymington, SO41 5QG unless otherwise stated.
​For all BBKA talks available on YouTube click here.
March 2026
Dan Basterfield talk - 4 March
Dan Basterfield gave a great talk earlier this month on 'Preparing for a better season'. He emphasised the importance of deciding what you wanted to get out of the apiary - increase number of colonies or more honey or more queens...? And then plan for it.
​
Select your method of swarm control and prepare in good time. Most methods involve colony splits and the Pagden is as good as any.
He then went through the rest of the year to show everything came together. Something for everyone. Thanks Dan.
​
January 2026
Meetings in January
We welcome Clare Densley and Martin Hann on Zoom on 14 January. Their talk will be about 'Reading the colony'. They will cover the principals of understanding what can be seen, heard and smelled when looking at and inside the hive. Clare and Martin manage the bee education and bee colonies at Buckfast Abbey.
Our AGM was held on 7 January. The meeting was well attended despite the cold weather. Simon has stepped down as chair and Julia has stepped down from the committee. Thank you for all your hard work.
​
We welcome Wendy as our new chair, Julie as secretary and Claire remains treasurer.
December 2025
Christmas quiz and get together
We met for our annual club Christmas gathering and quiz on Wednesday 3 December. The competition was fierce (not really) and a surprise extra round was added on beekeeping questions. Great fun and the prizes were well received. Thanks to Simon - for the quiz, Philip - for taking on the role of quiz master and beekeeping questions and Chris - for arranging the venue and food.
