Brisbane Branch held their monthly meeting on 3rd Oct, which also included the branch AGM. The Bulimba community centre continues to prove itself as a very suitable venue. It was well attended with 36 in person, and another dozen or so on-line.
Speaker
Our main business was a talk by Geoff Dutton. Many of you reading this will be familiar with Geoff’s amazing close up photography of bees.
Geoff’s talk included brilliant images and he gave us tips and methods to improve our own photography skills. Geoff also told us how to grow plants and flowers that then support the bees. The club was very pleased to welcome Geoff’s wife and daughter to the event. Also Geoff provided multiple gifts to the club attendees in the form of printed mouse pads and metal plates with beautiful bee pictures. It was a great event.
Branch AGM
The AGM results saw a shuffling of several positions. Ian Driver was thanked for his service in the previous year as Secretary. Greg Shea has taken on this important role for the coming year. Jason Laskus has moved into the role of Brisbane Representative. I am pleased to welcome Jen-nifer Shea into the committee. Jennifer is a fantastic per-son who has contributed to the Brisbane club for many years, month in and month out. It’s great to have her aboard and now to contribute to our committee goals and ideas as well.
Plantapalooza
Brisbane Club manned a stall at the Plantapalooza event at the Brisbane (Rocklea) markets on the 9th October. This is an annual event with a number of participants with eco/ environmental / horticulture/ gardening type of credentials. A walk through the various stalls and displays was educational and interesting, good to talk to fellow stall holders. Our club had a number of informative posters, flyers, and a few display hives, empty stingless bee boxes and so on. Our stall was received well, and we engaged with the public on the day and talked bees. Dean Haley also had a 5 minute stint on ABC radio, who was broadcasting live from the Plantapalooza event.
UP & Coming!
The Brisbane branch meets on the first Sunday of the month at Bulimba community centre. Our style is to have a guest speaker as our main business. These speakers range from grass roots bee-keepers, to up and coming university researchers, to photographers, to respected scientists. We actively pursue all levels of interest and have a variety of different skill levels. Although there is sometimes an emphasis on stingless bees, we have ample presenters for solitary bees. Occasionally we mix it up with interesting talks of bees in other countries.. bumble bees for example.
Our November meeting promises to be very special. Ian Driver (A Green Soul) is going to share his journey and in-sights about stingless native bees. I think this will be a marvellous session and wouldn’t miss it for the world!
December is also very exciting. For several years now, the Brisbane club have been conducting an annual hive competition. There are prizes! This has always proven to be a very popular event, with many entries, and lots of public who come to be a part of this event. Anyone is allowed to enter the hive competition; you do not even have to be a member of the ANBA. We want to show-case and promote the diversity and ingenuity of our bee-keepers.
There are many categories that hives can be entered under. There is also a category for our solitary bees because we simply cannot neglect these important pollinators. And we have a special visitor lined up to judge.
The Categories are:
- People’s choice (secret ballot),
- Judges Choice. Judge yet to be selected,
- Best Paint Job,
- Best Native Bee/ Insect Hotel, (Note there were no entries in this category last year, so could be an easier one to win you prize)
- Best tool, device or accessory.
The Rules are:
• Hives can be made of any material and can be any shape or design but must be able to house native bees.
• Hives can be full or empty of actual bees, ideally you have one of each.
• Hives can be standard hives which are painted/ decorated. Fire up your creative side!
• There is no limit to the number of individual entries.
Dean Haley
For more info on branch activities, visit our Facebook page Brisbane Branch, Australian Native Bee Association, https://www.facebook.com/bnbeec
