The Newcastle Allotment Bee-Group (NABG)

The Newcastle Allotment Bee Group is a new association for allotment bee-keepers. It was formed in the Summer 2010 in response to the Newcastle Bee Strategy (see www.newcastle.gov.uk/bees) and it is directly responsible to the Newcastle Allotment Working Group. Meetings are held every three months or so and the aim has been to produce a set of rules and recommendations for allotment beekeeping, to secure funding for allotment beekeeping, both start-up grants and training and to act as a forum for discussion the particular benefits and problems associated with keeping bees on allotments. So far the group has been successful in:

1. Producing a governance document of rules and recommendations, to see this document, click opposite. The document has been acknowledged by the Guardian Society Environment Editor, Alison Benjamin, as the most comprehensive and detailed allotment bee governance she has seen and will be included as an appendix in a forthcoming book she is writing, to be published in August 2011 entitled “Urban Beekeeping”.

2. Obtaining grants totalling nearly £10,000 for three allotment sites to be used for starting up coasts for bee-keeping including training. This funding will allow about fifteen new allotment bee-keepers to start-up and be trained this year. The funding has come via the Sustainable Communities Fund. The funding applications have to be prepared by the allotment sites own committee, rather than by individuals, but NABG has advised on how to apply and fill in the complex application form successfully.
3. Arranging a mentoring system whereby new allotment beekeepers can get ongoing advice from established and experienced allotment beekeepers.
 
4. Obtaining via the Newcastle Bee Strategy a communal honey extractor for the use of NABG members, and purchasing adult and children’s bee suits which can be given to visitors to NABG hives.

5. Obtaining a grant to set up a bumblebee garden at Moorside Allotments with a season-long succession of bee-friendly plants and the purchase of two educational signboards describing threats to our native bumblebee, its importance in pollinating crops, flowers and vegetables,  its lifecycle, how to identify common bumblebee types and how we can help bumblebees survive

The group would like to involve any existing or potential beekeepers in its activities. Any queries can be directed to the Chair/Secretary of NABG Peter Whewell on peter(at)moorsideallotments.co.uk (replace the (at) with @

The next NABG meeting will be held at the Scotswood Natural Community Garden Offices (John Marley Centre NE15) on Tuesday the 30th August at 6.30 pm .

All welcome.

Bee Garden	Allotment Bee Hive