Bishops Itchington Men's Shed

At the end of lockdown #2 (Dec 2021) the world had changed for everyone including our shed members. The Shed had started to reopen to the members (albeit under strict COVID-19 rules) but it was evident that after such a long time in lockdown, few members felt comfortable in returning to an indoor group activity. It was suggested by one of the committee members that the shed and the local community could benefit from a Men's Shed Apiary.

The idea beeing that;
- Beekeeping would provide an outdoor activity for members who would preferred not to return to activities inside the shed just yet.
- Beehive construction would provide shed members an activity on their return.
- Looking after the Apiary would provide an alternative activity to woodworking.
- The Apiary could attract new members.
- The local community would benefit from improved pollination
- The farm (where our shed is) could use the Apiary as an attraction
- The Apiary could provide an income to support other community projects

In response to the suggestion the Bishop Itchington Men's Shed committee members voted overwhelmingly to accept the proposal. We also had enthusiastic support from the farm owners who were keen to support 'Eco' projects. The committee members set about building hives in January 2022 and applied for funds from likeminded donors to purchase bees and suits.

We are delighted to report the shed has now received sufficient funds to populate two hives and provide beesuits for six shed members.

Here are some pictures;

Hives being built

Beesuits in action

Hive number one

Hive number two

Honey (Collection, extraction and jar filling)
Click on the image below for a shirt video clip