Celebrity opening for Broads beekeepers' new training apiary
September 11, Grange Farm, Barsham.
Martha Kearney, presenter of BBC Radio 4’s flagship lunchtime news programme ‘The World at One’, will open the Waveney Beekeepers’ Group’s brand new training apiary at Grange Farm, Barsham near Beccles at midday on Saturday 11th September.
Martha, a former presenter of ‘Woman’s Hour’ and Political Editor of the BBC’s ‘Newsnight’ programme from 2000 to 2007, is herself a Suffolk beekeeper. She presented BBC 4’s documentary ‘Who killed the honey bee?’ earlier this year.
Waveney Beekeepers’ new ten hive apiary aims to train up to 50 new beekeepers a year and to raise ‘starter’ colonies of bees for novice beekeepers in response to the drastic decline in the numbers of honey bees. It will provide educational taster sessions for members of the public and schoolchildren to help increase interest in bees. The apiary will also function as an ongoing training facility for WBG’s growing membership and any surplus bees will be made available to members who have lost colonies.
The training apiary has been funded by a £5000 grant from the Broads Authority’s Sustainable Development Fund and £1000 from the locality budget of the county councillor for Bungay, David Ritchie.
The money has purchased all the equipment and clothing for the apiary and a portable observation hive that will be used for school visits and other public events.
An alarming 30% decline in British beekeepers since 1985 and a combination of pests (notably the varroa mite), disease, pathogens, pesticides, stress and poor management has put the honey bee under serious threat. Colony Collapse Disorder has led to the loss of over 35% of honey bees in the USA. Colony losses in England alone since 1985 have averaged 11% a year. There are now only 44,000 beekeepers in the UK, 99.5% of them amateurs, each with an average of six hives.
01/09/2010
