Meetings

'Show and Tell' and Bring and Buy' stalls and informal 'Honey Show'.

Jane judging the entries

SWBK held its first Honey Show and Bring & Buy in Sewards End Hall on Saturday 30 October. It was a great success and will become an annual event. Please come next year!
The hall provided a light, spacious and well-ventilated space for the display of members' honey and candles and an attractive stall of Bees Abroad Christmas gifts. There was also an eye-catching table of refreshments. In the garden, Bring & Buy wares were displayed, including a nuc, various feeders, other useful gadgets, as well as secondhand beekeeping books.
This was planned as an informal Show, encouraging both beginners and experienced beekeepers to enter. There were two Honey Classes: Clear Honey and Creamed/Seeded Honey; a Beeswax Candle Class, requiring an identical pair of candles; and an Other Hive Products class, a non-competitive section showing other items that had been made, e.g. bottles of mead, beeswax polish.
Although there were not as many exhibits as we had hoped, there were sufficient to allow a judging process and discussion. Jane and Richard Ridler guided us through the exhibits, carefully explaining their relative merits, and what the characteristics were that marked out the winners. It was a relaxed but informative way of learning how to make high quality products.
After the shopping and the showing, we rounded off the event with a fabulous afternoon tea. This was our first proper 'social' since the start of the pandemic and the joy of the occasion was the opportunity to talk to people in person.
With many thanks to all involved: to Jane and Richard as our Show judges, to Helen for refreshments, to Linda for manning the Bring & Buy;  and last but not least to Steph for organising the event.

Vanessa Wilkinson 3/11/21