Tuesday 7th January 2020 – Annual General Meeting was held at 7:30 pm at Tynedale Cricket Club, Hexham. Twenty-five members were present. The draft minutes of the meeting are available here.

Saturday 11th January 2020 – The 60th BBKA Annual Delegates Meeting took place at Myton School, Warwick. Paul Mingard attended representing Hexham & District Beekeepers’ Association.

Wednesday 5th February 2020 – Open Meeting was held at Tynedale Cricket Club, Hexham. Luke and Suzie Hutchinson from The Northumberland Honey Co. explained how to turn honey into sparkling mead in “From Bees to Bottle – Mead in the Making”. Around 25 members enjoyed an informative presentation and sampled some delicious sparkling mead.

Tuesday 3rd March 2020 – Open Meeting was held at Tynedale Cricket Club, Hexham. Nick Athey recounted his experience using the Flow Hive and his solution for making his own Bee Vac. About 20 members turned up to hear about Nick’s setbacks and successes over his last five years of bee-keeping.

Tuesday 7th April 2020 – Open Meeting was scheduled at which George Eames was to give a presentation on “An overview of the BBKA Examination system”. This meeting has now been cancelled due to the restrictions imposed in response to COVID-19.

Future Meetings and Apiary Visits – Our usual group-based activities planned for 2020 have been suspended until further notice in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sunday 13th September 2020 – A special invitation event was hosted by Sue and Ian Robinson at the Wylam apiary aimed at new/novice beekeepers on “Winter Preparations”. Nine members attended and enjoyed a hugely informative session designed to help them get their bees through next winter.

Thursday 8th October 2020 – A ‘virtual’ Open Meeting was hosted via Zoom – Sue Robinson gave a personal account of her recent experiences of “Beekeeping in New Zealand“. Twenty three members joined the meeting.

Thursday 24 November 2020 – This year’s Rachel Lowther Memorial Lecture was delivered via Zoom by Clare Densley and Martin Hann from Buckfast Abbey. The topic was “What the books don’t tell you and why bees change their minds”. Thirty three beekeepers participated from Hexham, Alnwick and Newcastle Associations.

Tuesday 15 December 2020 – This year’s Christmas gathering was a virtual affair via Zoom. The meeting began with a brief update on The Hermitage Sisterhood from The General which was followed by The Doctor’s Fiendish Christmas Quiz.