WSBKA Events Calendar
Please scroll down to view upcoming events.
Our regular winter meetings are currently held at the Bury Cricket Club Pavilion on the Victory Sports Ground, Nowton Road, Bury IP33 2BT from October to April (excluding December) on the second or third Thursday of the month.
Past speakers have included a national honey judge, our local area bee inspector, the creators of Zest Hives and skep-making demonstrators. Please see our calendar and the Suffolk Beekeepers’ Google Calendar.
Winter Meeting - Chloe Davis from the Better-B Project
Winter Meeting - Chloe Davis from the Better-B Project
When: Thursday April 16th, 18:45 for 19:00
Where: The Victory Pavilion, Nowton Road, Bury IP33 2BT
Plenty of free parking available.
Chloe is a researcher from Nottingham Trent University on the Better-B project with Professor Martin Bencsik. The European project aims to improve the resilience of beekeeping to abiotic stresses. Her specific task is to try to create varroa-resistant colonies by following a Dutch breeding protocol. This includes the automated monitoring of colonies, using a device to monitor the mass, acoustics and temperature of the colonies.
Honey bee colonies presently face numerous challenges, including pests, diseases, and environmental stresses, which threaten their survival and productivity. Chloe will present ongoing research which explores the use of unsupervised machine learning, specifically principal component analysis (PCA), to analyse hive weight data and detect colonies underperforming. The algorithm has successfully flagged colonies suffering from disorders such as queenlessness, nosema, and varroa mite infestation, corroborated by physical inspections. The project now aims to differentiate surviving varroa-resistant colonies from failing colonies.
Suffolk BKA AGM with guest speaker & refreshments
Our next monthly winter talk incorporates the Suffolk BKA AGM. Each year, one of the six county BKAs is host and it's our turn this year
When: Saturday, March 21st, 2.00p.m. - 4.00p.m.
Where: Great Barton Village Hall, Elms Close, Bury St Eds, IP31 2NR
Plenty of free parking available.
We have a guest speaker - Michael Bennett, who will be discussing Nosema. This could be very beneficial to many of us, especially after our very long cold & wet winter where many colonies may have encountered issues relating to Nosema.
There will be copious refreshments available as we hope very much that there will be members from all over Suffolk who, weather willing, may have spent an enjoyable morning admiring Bury and its surroundings.
Let us know if you’ll be coming along for some tea and cake and an afternoon discussing all things bees!!
Winter Meetings - Honey & Cheese Tasting with Robin Parker
Honey & Cheese sommelier Robin Parker will lead the group through some choice pairings of cheeses and honeys – this a ticketed event, booking is essential. Please book through Carol by emailing wsbka@yahoo.co.uk £10 cash payable on the night.
Winter Meetings - Stewart Spinks, Norfolk Honey Co.
Stewart Spinks of the Norfolk Honey Company needs little introduction. This evening he will be giving us a review of his learnings from the 2025 seasons and sharing his plans and advice for the future.