News & Events
Courses - 2024
Beginners Beekeeping Course will start on Saturday 20th April 2024 and run on consecutive Saturdays until and including Saturday 18th May (weather permitting). Most sessions will be in the apiary at High Elms Country Park giving you the opportunity to handle live bees, with a couple of sessions being in the Beeche Centre classroom nearby.
Cost is £30 per person. We can loan you beesuits for the apiary sessions.
To book a place on the course please contact Brian Waddell via email:
b [dot] waddell [at] ndy [dot] com
Honey Show
Orpington and Bromley Branch Honey Show
Date: Saturday 17th September 2022.
Celebrate the end of the beekeeping season by showing your honey at the annual Orpington and Bromley Honey Show. Beekeepers from London and Kent compete for prizes with their honey, bee hive products, cake baking and confectionary.
Venue: Emmanuel Church, The Grove, West Wickham, BR4 9JS.
Staging: 9.00 – 9.45am.
Open to the Public: 10.00am – 4.30pm.
You can download and print a copy of the show schedule and entry form from the Bromley Branch Website.
Honey Show Report
Orpington and Bromley Honey Show
The annual Orpington and Bromley Show was held on Saturday 17th September 2022 at Emmanuel Church Hall, The Grove, West Wickham. It wasn’t as well attended as shows pre-Covid, though 7 Orpington members contributed entries. There was a wide range of classes to enter for adults and children, experienced and novice beekeepers, ranging from honey, honeycomb for extraction, chunk honey, cut comb, mead, beeswax and candles, confectionery made with honey (cakes, marmalade, lemon curd and sweets) and various forms of art work (including honey label designs and photographs).
The Orpington Cup for the highest points in classes 1-21 was awarded to John O’Connell and Chris Courtney
The Dr Courtenay Lord Challenge Cup for the best extracted honey in classes 1-7 was awarded to John O’Connell
A Drinking Horn for the best mead and the Trenear Trophy for the highest points in the confectionery classes were awarded to Karen Scales.
The Alan Simmons Memorial Cup for the best comb for extraction was awarded to Chris Courtney
Sadly there were no entries for the Novice cup and the Matthews Memorial Plate for the best wax. Chris Courtney was not present and unable to accept his cups.