The South West Counties Joint Consultative Council has changed its name to the snappier sounding South West Beekeepers’ Forum.
The Forum brings together beekeepers from across the region to discuss ‘matters of concern and interest to beekeepers, including but not limited to the policies and activities of the BBKA’.
To go with the new name there is a new constitution and the draft is out for consultation ahead of the next meeting of the Forum on November 28.
If you are interested, please take a look at the draft (as below) and send your comments to SBKA delegate David Charles: pennardbeeman@talktalk.net
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​The environment secretary, Michael Gove, told The Guardian this week that the UK will back a total ban on insect-harming pesticides in fields across Europe.
The decision reverses the government’s previous position and is justified by recent new evidence showing neonicotinoids have contaminated the whole landscape and cause damage to colonies of bees. It also follows the revelation that 75% of all flying insects have disappeared in Germany and probably much further afield, a discovery Gove said had shocked him.
Neonicotinoids are the world’s most widely used insecticide but in 2013 the European Union banned their use on flowering crops, although the UK was among the nations opposing the ban. The European commission now wants a total ban on their use outside of greenhouses, with a vote expected in December, and the UK’s new position makes it very likely to pass.
Click to go to the article in The Guardian

Mark and Christine Gullick from Burnham Division triumphed at their first outing at the National Honey Show. They won two firsts – for their honey jar label and a frame suitable for extraction - against very stiff competition. Many congratulations to both of them who have enjoyed great success this season - they won Best in Show at the Bristol Honey Show as well as many prize cards at the Royal Bath & West Show.
It's fantastic to see two Somerset beekeepers do so well in such a prestigious competition and  give us some really good news at the end of a season which has been so difficult for so many of us.