This year’s intake of new beekeepers had completed their six weeks theory sessions via Zoom and were ready to get to grips with the practical aspects of beekeeping by meeting the bees for the first time at Shugborough.
Because of Covid-19 we could only have a maximum of 30 people gathering together at the same time.
So the new beekeepers were split into a Tuesday evening group and a Saturday morning group.
This still allowed for a support team of tutors and helpers to be in attendance on both days.
June 1st was the first time that anybody other than the small apiary work group teams had attended the Shugborough apiary since late 2019.
We set up a makeshift camp of chairs on the small car park at the entrance to the apiary so that our new beekeepers could change into their bee suits and listen to the safety information and get their first try at lighting smokers.
It was a bit chaotic at times as we adapted to the new working conditions but everybody got stuck in.
The following Saturday we met up with the other group of beginners but this time we were a bit more organised and had more chairs thanks to Phil who collected them from our Hilton Green apiary.
Thank you to all the new beekeepers for bearing with us and a big thank you to the club members who supported and continue to support our new beekeepers.
The beginner practical sessions continue on Tuesdays and Saturdays for the next few weeks.
Given that we can meet together in bigger groups, the apiary will then be open to all members on Saturday mornings until the end of the season.