Visitors in for a real buzz at food and drink festival!
A new, interactive exhibition is set to create a real buzz at this year’s Mold Food & Drink Festival (a True Taste Wales festival) being held on Saturday and Sunday 24-25 September in New Street car park, Mold.
Members from two Welsh Beekeepers’ Associations, Flint & District and South Clwyd, will be coming together to showcase all aspects of beekeeping in this walk through exhibition where visitors can watch the bees at work in observation hives and have a try at spotting the ‘queen’, (she has a coloured spot on her thorax) no easy task amongst 40,000 or more bees in the hive!
A 45 minute film covering all aspects of beekeeping will be shown on a continuous loop within the exhibition area. The film is designed to provide a real insight into the fascinating world of bees and shows how even a novice beginner can learn beekeeping skills and help contribute to ensuring the future of these vital insects.
Within the exhibition, which will be located at one end of the main exhibitor marquee, the beekeepers will also have a stand with information and literature on beekeeping, including the training and support available to beginners from their local beekeeping associations. Members will be on hand to answer any questions from the public and to offer honey tastings.
On the Saturday morning of the festival, the public can watch the judging of the Honey Competition which is scheduled to take place at 9am. The competition has about 15 classes which cover all types of honey, wax products, honey cake and mead. With up to 80 entries anticipated, this presents a great opportunity for the public to learn more about the huge range of honey and honey related products that are produced locally. The judge for the competition will be Mr Steve Guest, a nationally recognised Honey Show judge and member of the British Beekeeping Association. Mr Guest is himself a prizewinning mead maker and producer of beeswax polish. The exhibition will be closed whilst the judging takes place and will re-open at 11am.
Local beekeeping associations across Denbighshire and Flintshire have initiated a breeding programme to improve and increase the numbers of native bees in the area. The natural range of the Western Honey Bee covers the whole of Europe, Africa and the Middle East but evolutionary pressures over many thousands of years have ensured that several races have developed which have adapted to the various climatic conditions found throughout the region.
Stephen Rose of South Clwyd Beekeepers’ Association says,
“Our own race or subspecies is called Apis mellifera mellifera and it is characterised by its ability to thrive in relatively cool, windy and wet conditions. Unfortunately it is close to extinction in its pure form due to about 150 years of bee imports from all over Europe. I am very proud of the fact that, almost uniquely, many local beekeepers have decided to work together to genetically test and breed from our purest bees in order to halt and even reverse the decline of this vitally important insect.
Exhibiting at this years’ Mold Food & Drink festival with the Flint & District BKA will be a great opportunity for us to help raise awareness of beekeeping and offer encouragement to people thinking about taking it up as a hobby.”
Mold Food & Drink Festival organisers are anticipating another successful event for 2011. Chairman John Les Tomos says,
“We are delighted to welcome the beekeepers to the Mold Food & Drink Festival this year. The exhibition will provide a new dimension to the festival and we have a number of other new features also being planned for this year. Interest from exhibitors has once again been fantastic and spaces are going fast so we’re looking set for a great weekend.”