The May meeting saw us host local beekeeper Simon Croson, and there were lots of guests, although we resisted the urge to sing the Arthur Askey Bee song and a rousing rendition of Jerusalem was sung.
The meeting also was a time for this year’s resolutions to be debated, which was done admirably by Danni and Lucy, however, it did leave less time than anticipated for Simon’s talk, which was fascinating. Simon brought along some bee suits, and explained how he had developed his passion for beekeeping and spoke through a year of beekeeping and the complex social behaviours of the bees.
There were different types of honey, depending on what the bees had been eating, Simon told us about the life cycle of the bee, how the workers are all female, and that drones have one function! It was unbelievably enthralling, this short blog post can’t do it justice. Simon was also a keen bee photographer and had some excellent images of the bees, which can be viewed on his website. He also gave us his background and how he went from serving in the RAF to a professional beekeeper and honey-maker, and how he now travels the world educating people about bees and also bringing new beekeeping techniques back to the UK.
All in all it was one of the best talks that the Lincoln WI has had the pleasure to host, and hopefully we’ll be able to get Simon back in future years with a bit more time.
The Lincoln WI 