The CBKA is actively involved in educational projects. Numbers of bees are in decline nationally and the current population of beekeepers is getting older all the time. We must get younger people involved to ensure a healthy future for beekeeping! 

CBKA Schools Program

This year a number of CBKA members have taken bees into schools across Cornwall as part of the Bees in the Curriculum program. below is a small snapshot of these visits.

            Children having fun spotting the queen

             The opportunity to dress up is never missed

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Bee Courses

1.    “So you think you’d like to keep bees!” is a 1day overview course giving a brief overview of beekeeping, describing its importance ecologically and the steps necessary to move towards becoming a keeper of bees.  The course will run at Probus CP School on Saturday 12^th January 2008, 10am to 3.30pm.  The cost will be £25.  Enrolments via Truro College, 01872 265800 or contact Colin Rees on 01872 501313 for further information. 

2.  BBKA’s “Introduction to Beekeeping” is either 9 Monday evenings or 4 non-consecutive Saturdays at Probus CP School.  The Monday course starts on 14^th January, 7pm to 9.15pm, whilst the Saturday course starts on 19^th January, 10am to 3.30pm, continuing on 2nd February, 23^rd February and 8^th March.  The course follows the BBKA syllabus in teaching how to embark upon the craft of beekeeping, describing the lifecycle of the honeybee and its castes, hive types, apiary siting, diseases of the honeybee and so on.  By the end of the course, students will have the knowledge to be able to set up their own apiary and manage their bees for the first few seasons.  The cost will be £62.  Enrolments via Truro College, 01872 265800 or contact Colin Rees on 01872 501313 for further information.

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Selection of the raising stock.

Queen cell distribution.

Main stock distributed, each with a Queen cell.

   Preparing the nucleus from the main stock

An Insight to the NBD Course 2004

Members of the Advance Bee Husbandry Course 2004

The 2004 Advance Bee Husbandry Course took place at the Central Science Laboratory National Bee Unit this year from the 7th to 11th June. Two members of the CBKA were amongst the group of eleven, this was Sue Hoult and myself. The course programme covered a wide range of topics which included Queen Grafting, Bee disease recognition and dissection and anatomy of bees. Here are some images of the week.

                                           Sue Hoult

             Inspection of the grafted queens