How to start
The first thing to do when you decide that you want to keep bees is to join East Grinstead Beekeepers. This will have many benefits, including help and advice on starting up and also giving you the chance to handle bees before you spend any money.
For the new beekeeper, the help and advice given can be invaluable. You should learn how to handle bees before you take the plunge as you may find that you don't like handling bees. A really full and busy hive at the height of the season can be very daunting at first. East Grinstead Beekeepers can help you with this at either an apiary meeting or at one of our member's own apiaries.
Most beekeeping groups, including ourselves, are affiliated to the British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) and this provides benefits like insurance which can be useful.
Be careful not to get too carried away by spending lots of money as a lot of the things in the beekeeping catalogues aren't essential especially for the new beekeeper. (Please see our equipment Page)
Membership of our division has many benefits, whether you are new to beekeeping or an experienced beekeeper. These include:
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Monthly meetings at our Association Apiary as well as at Members Apiaries with experienced speakers on a wide variety of beekeeping subjects
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Practical demonstration meetings covering everything from wiring a frame to honey extraction to Candle Making
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Mentoring service for new beekeepers
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Monthly newsletter
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Library
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Extraction equipment for a nominal hire fee.
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Swarm collection service and distribution to members for a small fee
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Winter meeting programme
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Discount on Bee Craft Magazine
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Discount on The Beekeepers Quarterly Magazine
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Bi-Monthly newsletter from the BBKA
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Access to members area of the BBKA Website
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Annual National Honey Fair
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Insurance against Third Party Claims and loss of bees through certain diseases
More importantly than this however, can be that you will get to meet lots of other local, friendly beekeepers who you can discuss with, and can receive help from when needed. We also have a great social aspect to our club where you can socialise with other like minded people to discuss not only beekeeping but other similar areas of interest.
We cannot include everything here but hope that this encourages you further. Please contact us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for further information.
