Welcome to the website of the ROYAL COUNTY BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION,
Our aims are to promote the craft of beekeeping in the Royal county and adjoinging areas by organising lectures, apiary visits and events that support our members in their craft. The opening of our Association Apiary in January 2023 marks a major milestone in the history of the association and we will have a full schedule of lectures, apiary visits and queen rearing tutorials plus again running our Beginners Course to introduce would be bee keepers to the craft.
The Royal County Association has been a thriving Beekeepers Association for almost half a century . Beekeeping is a beautiful and rewarding hobby and indeed nearly all of our members are enthusiastic hobbyists. The joy of looking after a colony of bees brings great pleasure and challenges to the beekeeper and if one can survive the first couple of years without experiencing total loss, then that is an achievement in itself. You will become part of a group of folk of similar interests where you will have the pleasure of just talking about bees to fellow enthusiasts and in that time forget about the other boring aspects of life.
We aim to host a beginner’s course every year, apiary days, summer outings, our annual honey show and finish the year with our A.G.M. The honey show deserves special mention. Our last show was last September 2023 we decided to host this important event in Trim during the staging of the ‘Royal Meath Show’ which takes place in September each year. This was a huge success as it allowed people that were not necessarily interested in beekeeping the opportunity to see for themselves what was involved and also purchase or indeed taste the beautiful honey on offer. This event allows beekeepers to judge themselves against other beekeepers on how good their honey is, other products judged are honey cakes, biscuits, photographs, etc. The most important thing is to actually compete and by doing so, one certainly becomes a better beekeeper.
Our Website essentially is an overview of what is happening within our Association and will outline what is happening throughout the year. But if you really want to become a beekeeper join us and I can promise you will start a journey of learning and interest that will go on for eternity.
Now that we have moved to 2024 we are fully back with events organized again for the year. We had our AGM in october 2023 and have a number of events organized for the year including a beginners course. This will commence in february, and anyone interested attending this course should contact [email protected]. This will run for five to six weeks followed by a number of apiary visits in NAVAN where we will go through the colony. identify the various constituents of the colony and hopefully carry out hoprfully, an artificial swarm. On 24th of January we intend hosting a lecture on swarm control and its impact on the colony. A number of lectures will follow there after. Over the summer we hope to host a number of apiary visits, continue to expand our Association Apiary. And any other beekeeping services we can offer to our members. We are also hoping to host our annual honey show in September 2024.