President’s Ramblings – August 2025

It is with sadness that I report the death of one of our oldest members, Frank Brown, who died earlier this month at the age of 85.

I didn’t know him very well, but when I was first on the committee he was our treasurer, and I visited his apiary when I was a seasonal bee inspector.

I’m told he started beekeeping at school and was encouraged by his uncle who was a beekeeper. I understand he took his son, Ed, to SCBKA meetings until he was 10 or so before football took over Ed’s interest! Frank was membership secretary, treasurer and chairman of South Clwyd BKA at various times over a 40 year period.

He won more than 100 honey awards at the Royal Welsh Show over a period of 20 years, and would take members’ entries to the show if they couldn’t attend themselves.

Frank kept bees until 2020 when he found the boxes too heavy and decided it was time to stop.  Even then he did end up with swarms a few times, before giving his hives away.

He was always happy to mentor any aspiring beekeepers, and had built up an incredible collection of books and magazines on beekeeping. He was known locally as the “Bee Man” in the area! I’m sure we all send our condolences to Frank’s family.

On another note, it’s coming round to the time to treat for Varroa. Spare a thought for US beekeepers who recently reported losses as high as 75%. It would appear the Varroa mite has become resistant to yet another treatment, Amitraz, which is the only remaining effective chemical Varroa treatment being used in US. Added to this, exposure to climate change and pesticides, and less food in the form of pollen and nectar as monocrop farming proliferates, all increase stress levels of honeybees. Many US beekeepers expect to lose 30%, or more, of their colonies every year. One researcher cited the widespread use of neonicotinoid insecticides in US as harming bees. Thank goodness that we are not so reliant on chemical treatments for Varroa here in UK and Neonicotinoids are not widely used, except in exceptional circumstances.

Happy beekeeping
Geoff Critchley