History

The history of Evesham Beekeepers' Association

This short history of Worcestershire Beekeepers' Association, and from that Evesham Beekeepers' Association has been taken largely from a write up in The British Bee Journal.

In March 1882 Mr A. H. Martin of Evesham gave a lecture on bees and beekeeping to the Evesham Institute Field Naturalists Club. The lecture was printed, in full, in the Evesham Journal and provoked a great deal of interest, so much so that Mr Martin sent out 50 postcards to determine the level of interest for the establishment of an association. He had 40 positive replies.

He wrote to Earl Beauchamp of Madresfield Court, Malvern, asking whether he would be willing to take on the role of President of an association. On Saturday 14th October 1882 a meeting was held in the Worcester Guildhall for the purpose of establishing a beekeeping association for Worcestershire.

The new vicar of Evesham, Rev. Ross Barker was actively involved chairing the inaugural meeting; Mr Martin (Evesham) was elected Secretary, and Mr T. Slatter (Evesham) Treasurer.

Rev. Barker stated that the dissemination of literature, showing the improvements in methods of beekeeping, was a great advantage. In Hertfordshire he had found that to interest villagers in beekeeping did a great deal of good. In 1880 he had sold for one poor man £9 worth of honey in London, and in 1881 a cottager had produced nearly 1000 lbs from 14 stocks of bees.

Beekeeping was not always a success but it was a source of interest and cultivated intelligence. Dr Fernie of Malvern said that some of the happiest moments of his life were those he had devoted to his bees. In his busy professional life, if he could run to his bees for half an hour he found inexhaustible delight. 

The Worcestershire Beekeeping Association (WBKA) was duly formed with Earl Beauchamp as its President. The Vice-Presidents were The Lord Bishop of Worcester, The Earl of Dudley, Lord Northwick, Lord Lyttleton, The Dean of Worcester, Lady Georgia Vernon, Lord Edward Churchill, Sir E. Lechmere Bart MP and Mr G. Hastings MP.

The British Beekeepers’ Association was instituted in 1874. The object of the newly formed association was to be:

 "the encouragement, improvement and advancement of bee-culture in the United Kingdom, particularly as a means of bettering the condition of cottagers and the agricultural labouring classes as well as the advocacy of humanity to that industrious labourer, the honey bee...In short, the task was to effect a general change from the use of the straw skep to the management of the wooden movable frame hive."

There was another surge of interest in beekeeping between the World Wars. The National hive came in 1920 and in April 1932 Kidderminster branch was formed. On 8th and 9th November 1933 WBKA honey show was held in connection with the County Root, Fruit and Grain Show at Worcester. 

The British Bee Journal reported that "the honey exhibits were of record quality and number and comprised two new interesting features. The first was a remarkable display of light honey, which is exceptional for Worcestershire bee-keepers, who generally excel in medium honey. The second was the fine show of Welsh heather honey – another novelty for Worcestershire."

During the show week the Association were favoured (by the kindness of the Ministry of Agriculture) with a visit by Mr William Herrod-Hempsall FRES, who gave a series of lectures on ‘Prominent Apiaries and Beekeepers of Great Britain’ illustrated by cinema films at various venues throughout the county. 

On Friday 10th November 1933 Mr Herrod-Hempsall concluded his visit with his film lecture at Prince Henry's Grammar School Evesham, the result of this visit is that a branch be formed at Evesham. The Rev J. Ellis, of Honeybourne, kindly offered to act as Chairman, and Mr A. J. Harthan, of Sheriff’s Lench, as Hon. Secretary. 

Worcestershire now will have three branches – Kidderminster, Bromsgrove, and Evesham, and at the founding of each Mr. W. Herrod-Hempsall has been present and given advice.


Thanks to Martyn Cracknell, and The British Bee Journal 1933 for this content.

Timeline

1851 – Langstroth Hive is introduced

1860 – Woodbury Hive (Exeter) is introduced

1866 – T. W. Cowan Hive is introduced

1873 – British Bee Journal is founded

1874 – British Beekeepers' Association is founded

1882 - Worcestershire Beekeeping Association is founded

1885 – Campaign by William Broughton Carr to promote extracted honey

1890 – WBC Hive details published

1933 - Evesham Beekeepers' Association is founded - a branch of the WBKA

1943 - Ministry of Food announce that beekeepers qualify for supplies of sugar not exceeding 10lbs per colony to keep their beehives going through the winter, and 5lbs for spring feeding. County membership was at its height during this time (we don’t know how many of these new members actually had bees!).