Saturday 17th November

[gavin]

Another chance for forum members to meet up and exchange banter tomorrow in Perth. I'll be going both to the morning's Local Association Secretaries meeting (know there really should be an apostrophe in there but couldn't be bothered) and the afternoon Council meeting. If JohntheFarmer really does turn up maybe someone could point him out and I'll introduce him to the crop protection industry minder in the corner and see if I can get him bunged some bundles of tenners too.* I understand we will have a 15 min presentation by the young man responsible for some of us ramming half-dead bees into RNALater, and who tortures Varroa mites in his spare time (hurray!).

G.

* To the casual reader passing by who isn't up to speed with what we're like here - I *am* joking!

[Jimbo]

I will be going to both meetings with my minder Ben. I could do with a few more tenners as I never got any sent from Bayer after placing a large order with them. Looking forward to hearing from the varroa torturer

[gavin]

That was a very fine meeting I thought. The morning session was very well focussed on a range of LA-centred topics, the Skype link worked well, great stuff from the two lassies at the end, and two excellent talks from beekeepers a few years in. That Donald guy was a hoot, and our very own EmsE was superb too. The organisation is in safe hands and has an excellent future.

That Varroa-torturer is an engaging young fellow too.

The crop protection bung-distributor scarpered at the sight of his nemesis in the afternoon so we never got the bundles to trouser (in the language of Brosville elsewhere).

I have a picture of a presentation on my phone, but left the cable for it at work ....

[Neils]

We had our association AGM today so I hope you'll accept my apologies for not being there.

[Jimbo]

I agree with the above comments. One of the best SBA meetings I have attended. There was a lot of positive ideas for running your association in the morning and the Acarine study by Ewan looks interesting.

[EmsE]

:o thank you for your generous comments. Took a couple of whiskeys last night to recover.

The Skype worked really well, though it must be a lot of work for Alistair- he did a great job.
There were a lot of good ideas that came from the days events to be taken to our associations AGM next month and already have my homework set for a couple of things to prepare before hand. I thought that the format the LA secretaries meeting took was refreshing and has given us a lot to think about.

Donald really was excellent and had us all in fits of laughter all the way through and was able to relate to the points he raised.

I really enjoyed chatting to everyone in person which always makes these events even more enjoyable.

[gavin]

To think of the tedium of the first few meetings I was at many years ago - older gentlemen reading out procedural stuff and nothing else - there have been massive improvements. It looks like Mike has been putting his energies into making the LA Secretaries meeting work in the way it really should. It was perfectly interactive and really addressed issues of concern to the local associations. One of our jobs on the forum is to try to continue that. It is unlikely to be easy, but we should try.

One thing that struck me yesterday was the turn-over in people willing to take a lead, and the dynamism coming from that. There were several LA secretaries in the audience who have got into their positions after a relatively short time in beekeeping, sometimes very short. People brimming with new ideas and enthusiasm. Presumably this is the effect of the renewed interest in beekeeping starting a few years ago. The dynamism is coming from some but not all local associations, and the SBA is making great strides too, even without a wholesale change in the faces running it. It is all good.

I should be holding fire until we have a Local Secretaries area up and running!

[Trog]

It was an excellent and most enjoyable day. Lots of interesting stuff and good interaction. The baked spuds were good, too :)

[gavin]

The baked spuds were good, too :)

Don't get me started on that! The soup was poor. Made from a packet. Thickened artificial chicken and noodle, with small sandwich triangles. They should be embarassed to charge £8.25 for such fare, and then to levy such a high charge for the beverages too.

Someone had to find something wrong ..... :p

[Trog]

I meant to find out what they charged for tea/coffee if one bought it at the bar/cafe counter. Did anyone notice?

[emcampbell]

Just want to say a big thank you to the various associations and the SBA for having me along. I really enjoyed giving the talk and hope that you found some of it interesting. I need to work on reducing my acronyms though ! Sorry I didn't get to chat more but I had to rush away for family stuff. Was good to see you again Gavin and it was great to put a few names to faces :)