by Leonie Williams
Sutton Coldfield and North Birmingham Beekeepers had their Christmas meal on Tuesday 10th December and it was a record turnout with 50 people attending. Once again, the venue was Wishaw Country Sports at Grounds Farm and was marvellously hosted by Dave and Anne and the team.
It’s a beautifully converted Lodge barn decorated with twinkly lights which adds to the festive atmosphere of the event. We gathered in the bar with a roaring fire and welcomed each other until going through for the main event. We enjoyed a beautiful carvery or veggie options and all of the trimmings (and seconds) and a choice of delicious puddings (and more seconds!).
After the meal, we had our certificate presentations. This included three people who have achieved their Basic; Aaron Spencer, Andy Winters and Alison Vaux. Another three who passed Module One (Honeybee Management); Simon Gniadkowski, Leonie Williams and Lee Greatorex and two who passed Module Three (Honeybee Pests, Diseases and Poisoning); Julia Wigfield and Richard Evans. Between them all, there were 4 distinctions and 2 credits which everyone was very proud of.
We then moved onto the trophy presentations. We were honoured to have Linda Routh – Julian’s wife – as a special guest to present the Routh Challenge trophy. This was awarded and judged during our association honey show earlier in the year and is a class where 11 members are provided with some super frame parts at the start of the season. You have to assemble the frame and decide when to place it in your hive. You have to present the frame at the Honey Show in September regardless of its condition and the best result is then selected as the winner. Simon Gniadkowski won this trophy, which Linda kindly presented. Simon commented that he was especially proud of this award in light of the fact that Julian had been instrumental in his training, which he was very grateful for. It was also a great achievement considering that at the last Honey Show, Simon had assembled his frame on the morning of the show for entry – so a huge improvement!
The final presentation was for our Annual Conker Championship. The event has been in place for three years, but we now have a trophy to honour the trials and tribulations and sore knuckles and other body parts that suffered during the tournaments. Therefore, it was a presentation to the three winners; Alan Nicholls (2022), Roy Rogers (2023) and Becca Mundye (2024) who will all be sharing the trophy during the year. Well done all.
Very special thanks to Fiona Mundye for organising the event as well as Dave and Anne and the team at Wishaw for their superb hosting and also Linda Routh for presenting The Routh Challenge Trophy.
Next year is already booked at the same event – so get Tuesday 9th December 2025 in your diaries.
