2024 Programme of Club Meetings
We meet on the second Saturday of each month at 1.30pm, at
Southern Youth Development, 45 Maori Road, Belleknowes, Dunedin.
Non-financial-members are always welcome, we ask a $5 donation at the door. Tea and biscuits, an interesting speaker, a wealth of knowledge and hands on experience with the club hives (depending on the weather) are available at every meeting.
Saturday 10 February, 1.30pm
Honey extraction and tasting
Saturday 9 March, 1.30pm
Beekeeping on YouTube. A curated selection to engage and provoke discussion and from which we might be able to learn.
Saturday 13 April, 1.30pm
Lyn Pope, Environmental Officer with the Dunedin City Council, will explain the NZ Food Safety requirements for labeling and selling honey.
Thursday 23 May, 6.30pm
AFB. Is total elimination possible?
Representatives Niha Long and Marco Gonzalez from The Management Agency are joining us to bring us up to date and answer your questions. All welcome, free for members, $5 for non members. Pizza supplied, RSVP for catering purposes.
Saturday 8 June, 1.30pm
Hive maintenance, we’ll be cleaning and repairing club gear using some of the tips and tricks we picked up from our visit to Christchurch Beekeepers Club.
Saturday 13 July, 1.30pm
AGM, followed by a gadget session. Bring along and present your beekeeping gadgets and inventions.
Saturday 10 August, 1.30pm
Movie Screening – Honeyland. A woman utilises ancient beekeeping traditions to cultivate honey in the mountains of North Macedonia. When a neighbouring family tries to do the same, it becomes a source of tension as they disregard her wisdom and advice.
Saturday 14 September, 11am – 3pm
Open Day
Saturday 19 October, 1.30pm
Trees and Bees – Chris Hinton
Growing up around bees in 1960s England and keeping bees for nearly 30 years in NZ, working for over 40 years an Arborist, Landscape Architect and also a keen observer of the natural world your club secretary will present thoughts and observations on bees preferences for plants (trees).
Saturday 9 November, 1.30pm
Meet the Experts – a panel discussion
For this meeting we have a panel of experts – Jane Dawber, Geoff Gray and Franz Laas on hand to answer your ‘everything you wanted to know about beekeeping… but were too afraid to ask’ questions. At this time in the season we’re expecting a few questions on swarming.
Saturday 14 December, 1pm
End of year social – lunch, quiz & plant ID
This month’s gathering will be a catered lunch at 1pm – this is always a great opportunity to catch up with other members. There will be a light-hearted quiz with prizes and also a plant ID challenge with a plant as the prize.
We need to know likely numbers attending so please RSVP to Jenny here by Monday 2 December. Please note the earlier start for the lunch. If you have any special dietary requirements (gluten free etc) then please let Jenny know.