Buggrit!

We’re having a bee meeting at my apiary on Sunday, nothing extravagant, club members – of whom there are a dozen - plus a few visitors. As usual, I posted a picture (the Blip) on the social media pages of a couple of local villages where we have members, to invite along anyone interested. Last year, the ploy gained us two new members; so far this year, not a sausage. I posted at 1:00 a.m. on the morning of the 31st, by 1:05 I had received two replies, one wanting to bring a friend, the other, a young daughter. By breakfast time; there were 20 people wanting to join us – hence the “Buggrit.”
While it is very gratifying to get such a positive response, where’s a poor lad to find 20 spare bee suits at short notice; not to mention the logistics of producing enough cheese sandwiches and pickled onions for the picnic. I’m having to try and plan extra meetings to accommodate these people, it’s proving to be an organisational nightmare; it will be worse if they all want bees next year. I had enough difficulty supplying three colonies this year to two new members and an established one who carelessly killed all his last autumn (I dread to think of him keeping sheep).
I’m still delighted with the response though, and may plan some “taster” sessions for next spring; the estate manager is also delighted at the interest, it fits in well with the ethos of the business.