December 14, 2024

The Association encourages our members to improve their skills, become better beekeepers, manage productive well tempered and healthy colonies, interact with other like minded beekeepers, and generally to get more enjoyment from their beekeeping activities. In support of this the Association runs an active programme of events and activities to further these aims.

Is Beekeeping for You?

Many people take up beekeeping and have struggled because they found that there’s more to beekeeping than they first realised. If you are considering taking up beekeeping a good starting point would be to read our Is Beekeeping for You article. This will give you an insight into the real world of beekeeping.

Introduction to Beekeeping

If you’ve not been put off by some of the hard and demanding tasks described in our Is Beekeeping for You article and are still keen to keep bees and enjoy the many rewarding aspects of beekeeping then you probably ought to get yourself on one of our Introduction to Beekeeping courses. We have great feedback from those who attend these courses and they will provide you with much invaluable information. You will also get the chance to meet and talk with some of many experienced beekeepers.

Training Opportunities for Members

Amongst the training activities you can expect from the Association are:

Teaching Apiaries

Members are welcome to go to either of our training apiaries on Sunday mornings throughout the season. For details of where and when to meet and the activity that week please contact the apiarist. Matt Alabaster for Priory Park in Bedford. Mike Niemann for Stockwood Park in Luton.

Improvers’ Groups

Improver Groups are regular local sessions led by an experienced beekeeper. More detail here.

Training Events

Special training events are organised periodically to cover specific beekeeping issues or topics such as Disease Recognition or Queen Rearing. They are often have a practical element and may use either of of our two teaching apiaries. For details of up coming events click here.

Study Groups

We organise Study Groups to support and help those beekeepers who may be studying for any of the BBKA exams. More details here.

Supporting Material

The Association also has a range of material available to support our training initiatives.

The Hive Simulator is used frequently in our Improver Group sessions and during other training initiatives. It was developed by Gill Brewer, and is available commercially.

You may also be interested in our Beekeeper Training Progress Card which can be useful aid to help you track the progress of your knowledge and skills. Feel free to download a copy of Beekeeper Training Progress Card and use to check where you are with your beekeeping skills.

If you have any feedback, questions or suggestions about training, please contact our Training Coordinator, Gill Brewer.