Hi I’m Stewart Spinks and welcome to episode 56 of my podcast, Beekeeping Short and Sweet. The start of the new beekeeping season is almost upon us and last weekend I travelled out of the County to the first major Trade show of the season, BeeTradex.

Links for this week's podcast mentions;http://www.patreon.com/norfolkhoneyhttp://www.modernbeekeeping.co.ukonline.co.uk">http://www.bees-online.co.ukhttps://www.thorne.co.ukfritz.de">https://www.carl-fritz.dehttps://en.swienty.comhttp://beefarmers.co.ukhttp://www.northernbeebooks.co.ukcraft.com/">https://www.bee-craft.com/

So, last weekend was the first of the major beekeeping trade shows here in the UK, BeeTradex, it’s held at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire here in the UK, although it’s becoming much more than that with various lectures, AGM’s and business meetings also being held at the venue. The weather was much warmer this year and this resulted in a huge turnout of beekeepers and the show hall was constantly busy. The really nice thing was that the hall was large enough to accommodate everyone with room to move about and around displays without constantly bumping in to each other.

The weather was a bit bright and breezy, heavy rain showers blew across the event fair frequently so it was great that everything was under one roof. Those people who were smart had bought advanced tickets as the queue for buying tickets at one point must have been 100 beekeepers long if not more. The main hall was bright and roomy as I said and apart from wanting to chat to equipment suppliers and manufacturers I was also there for the Bee Farmers Meetings which were being held from midday so my morning was a little bit of a whirlwind.

It was great to stop and chat with a few beekeepers who had seen my videos, particularly those who are supporters on my Patreon page, particularly Gregg and Jackie Palmer who were lovely. It was nice to hear Gregg’s plans for the coming season and chat about how he was enjoying his beekeeping.

I was funny to hear how many people were really surprised that I was so tall, I’m 6’3” but I assume you don’t get to see that on the videos, for those of you who did stop to say hello, now you know why I have back problems!

The actual trade show itself was well attended by suppliers, there must have been 50 or 60 stands and i would think there were well over two thousand beekeepers passing through the main doors. Add to this the lectures that were available it all added up to a great day out for everyone.

Some of the highlights for me on the day were actually meeting some old friends  as well as making new friends as I wandered around the stands. I have to wish good luck to my very dear friend Sandra Gray who has just taken up the post of National Bee Inspector for the National Bee Unit. Sandra and I used to work together as seasonal Bee Inspectors and she is not only a fantastic beekeeper and inspector but a great administrator too so I’m sure she will do a fantastic job and with the ongoing challenge of the Asian Hornet incursion I’m sure she will have her hands full.

I also stopped at the Modern Beekeeping trade stand to chat with Paul Beardmore. Paul supplies the Honey Paw hives and the Zukan Apipasta that I’ve been using with very good results. It looks like he is expanding and has taken on the Modern Beekeeping business who sell the Paradise Honey Poly Hives and this will compliment his Honey Paw Langstroth hives as well as the various Zukan feed products and other bits of kit.

I tried to get a moment with the very nice people at Maisemore Apiaries, you’ll possibly remember they applied me with their own Commercial Poly Hives to try out in 2017. Those hives are doing great so far and the bees in them have come through the Winter strongly. I say I tried to chat with them because they were so busy I just couldn’t get