About the BOP Beekeeper Group
Also known as The Bay of Plenty Bee Interest Group it started in February 2012, in a garden centre café where we drank a lot of coffee. It remains a primarily social group, although with 230 members on our mailing list it out-grew cafes long ago. For those interested in bees you do not have to be a beekeeper.
The group meets on the last Sunday of each month (unless we decide otherwise), in venues in and around Tauranga. Winter meetings may include a visitor; Neil Mossop, Dennis Crowley, Dansar Bees, and Grant Engel have been amongst the visitors, a member may have something to share, or we'll have a honey tasting or a DVD. Summer meetings are usually among the hives at someone's home apiary.
We have no subscription, no rules, no formal, fixed structure, and anyone with an interest in bees and their habitat, however peripheral, is welcome to a meeting. From the regulars we ask for a gold coin donation and/or something to share for tea. Not all the members have, or intend to have, their own bees.
Apart from a little modest self-improvement and out-reach, the group builds networks and support. Our beekeepers exchange, advise and sympathise, or lend each other sites, equipment, and books, even bees, on a personal basis. We don't promote anything, or represent anyone. Our ethos is about participation; you get what you give, nothing is done for you.
We have established a member's apiary and meeting-place within the Tauranga Energy ConsumerTrust (TECT) All Terrain Park. We intend that these new assets will add to the honey bee experience that the group can provide for the members, and that we can continue to encourage in everyone the respect and wonder we all enjoy
Also known as The Bay of Plenty Bee Interest Group it started in February 2012, in a garden centre café where we drank a lot of coffee. It remains a primarily social group, although with 230 members on our mailing list it out-grew cafes long ago. For those interested in bees you do not have to be a beekeeper.
The group meets on the last Sunday of each month (unless we decide otherwise), in venues in and around Tauranga. Winter meetings may include a visitor; Neil Mossop, Dennis Crowley, Dansar Bees, and Grant Engel have been amongst the visitors, a member may have something to share, or we'll have a honey tasting or a DVD. Summer meetings are usually among the hives at someone's home apiary.
We have no subscription, no rules, no formal, fixed structure, and anyone with an interest in bees and their habitat, however peripheral, is welcome to a meeting. From the regulars we ask for a gold coin donation and/or something to share for tea. Not all the members have, or intend to have, their own bees.
Apart from a little modest self-improvement and out-reach, the group builds networks and support. Our beekeepers exchange, advise and sympathise, or lend each other sites, equipment, and books, even bees, on a personal basis. We don't promote anything, or represent anyone. Our ethos is about participation; you get what you give, nothing is done for you.
We have established a member's apiary and meeting-place within the Tauranga Energy ConsumerTrust (TECT) All Terrain Park. We intend that these new assets will add to the honey bee experience that the group can provide for the members, and that we can continue to encourage in everyone the respect and wonder we all enjoy