Going to the National Honey Show?

[Erichalfbee]

So what companies are in the trade section?

https://www.honeyshow.co.uk/trade-show.phpThe link has come up 2021 but it’s 2022

 

[Wilco]

Thorne, Abelo, Maisemore, National Bee Supplies were the main ones. Possibly more but hard to peruse everything with the girls.

Met a couple of people from here but missed a third.

 

[elainemary]

the year I was there, the only place for many of the exhibits was straight in the bonfire (more than a few agreed with me) forget about suitable for extracting, even leaving them in a hive for feeding was a big ask. same with many of the honey entries - jars under filled, scum visible around the edges. I did take photographs to use in future talks but unfortunately I had a phone malfunction not long after and I lost the bleddy lot.

I will make more entries next year

 

[WoodenBeam]

the year I was there, the only place for many of the exhibits was straight in the bonfire (more than a few agreed with me) forget about suitable for extracting, even leaving them in a hive for feeding was a big ask. same with many of the honey entries - jars under filled, scum visible around the edges. I did take photographs to use in future talks but unfortunately I had a phone malfunction not long after and I lost the bleddy lot.

Hats off for trying though (albeit the National may not be the best place to try). Honey Shows are in danger of disappearing into the dark ages which would be a shame in my opinion.

 

[Moobee]

Thorne, Abelo, Maisemore, National Bee Supplies were the main ones. Possibly more but hard to peruse everything with the girls.

Met a couple of people from here but missed a third.

More than last year - BJ Sherriff, BB Wear, Freeman & Harding as well.

 

[Newbeeneil]

I helped as a steward for that category this morning and there were one or two that were not perfect - but hats off for trying. I won a competition to steward for John Goodwin. V enjoyable and opportunity to learn.
Not one for raising my head above the parapet , I decided as a first timer at the NHS to try my hand in just 2 classes. I got 4th for my honey label and 4th again for Ling heather (very highly commended). So chuffed but will try harder next year!

The label looked great but the competition was fierce… 1st prize was very nice IMHO.

 

[TomH]

Honey Shows are in danger of disappearing into the dark ages which would be a shame in my opinion.

Is it though? As a (relatively) young beekeeper, I've been put off every show i've looked at, by the pages and pages of pedantic requirements.

Same goes with showing wax. The general public aren't interested in the palest/cleanest/most similar pieces. Every show i've been too, people want to look in an observation hive, taste some honey and talk to the beekeepers on the stands. The wax and honey displays for judging are largely ignored, or only of interest to other beekeepers. We're forever getting emails through our association from show organisers, begging for entries into honey classes.

Perhaps shows need to move with the times a bit too. Best label, best artwork, best logo, best website, best social media presence, best sales stand etc?

Or maybe i'm just bitter. By the time I think about entering anything, any honey i've got left has usually set in the jar and looks rubbish!

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

Best label, best artwork, best logo, best website, best social media presence, best sales stand etc?

I agree but a lot of that wouldn't work for local honey shows. Still, we could do more than best label, which we already have.

 

[TomH]

I suppose there is no one size fits all solution, and i'm not advocating getting rid of honey showing, a bit of a tradition is great and is what makes most agricultural shows what they are.

Like a lot of things in beekeeping, would just be nice if there were some options that gave a bit more of a nod to the modern world we live in, and a bit more in touch with what the general public might be interested in.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Best forum.
No contest.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Thing is 'honey show' is pretty self explanatory - it's a place to show off your honey, the wax products was a side shoot from that, the wax cake is different again, and is one of the few categories that is more of a test of the beekeeper than the product.
As for the 'rules' some of them are just borne of people's imaginations - like the fuss about travel staining, with people ruining their entries by taking off the lids and replacing them (thus losing all the aroma) just before judging, and has been proven to be a mythical rule anyway (apart from in the minds of a small, and dwindling minority of hyper pompous judges)
Most are common sense rules and are there to ensure people are preparing the honey as if for sale (no buyer in their right mind would want honey with loads of scum on the surface, or bits of bee floating around in it)
As for the jars (I've heard of some throwing a tantrum because the rules stipulate using squat 1Lb 'ministry' jars) it's just there to ensure uniformity, and to ensure a level playing field where the honey is judged and not the container) Of course, the commercial classes are a bit different, in some classes you are allowed more licence with the jars and, as long as you follow TS rules on font size etc, the label design is down to your imagination, in fact, in commercial classes, there is a specified number of points that are reserved for the label, with more points possible for a home designed label compared to an 'off the shelf' one.
It's the honey cake classes I find pointless and probably stemmed from the old misogynistic days of beekeeping where the men showed their honey and wax and socialised, and they threw in a baking category just to keep the little woman occupied.

 

[WoodenBeam]

Travelling down to the Show tomorrow (Saturday), if anyone is meeting up at lunchtime can I gatecrash? Be good to put a face/name to fellow forum members.

 

[Newbeeneil]

Travelling down to the Show tomorrow (Saturday), if anyone is meeting up at lunchtime can I gatecrash? Be good to put a face/name to fellow forum members.

I've replied to you private message

 

[Newbeeneil]

Spoils from the NHS squirrelled away high above of the sight line of SWMBO!

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

Perhaps shows need to move with the times a bit too. Best label, best artwork, best logo, best website, best social media presence, best sales stand etc?

Come to think of it, we have most of these things in the National Honey Show - or exhibitable versions of them. Of course you might have screens to display websites etc.

I don't think association members reluctance to take part in shows is necessarily the fault of the show genre (though we might think it is because we like to find fault with the way they're done). Like exams, showing is just not for everyone.

Unlike the NHS which is mostly attended by the beekeeping community, the public do see our local show and it is a very worthwhile PR exercise.

 

[BeeKeyPlayer]

with people ruining their entries by taking off the lids and replacing them (thus losing all the aroma) just before judging, and has been proven to be a mythical rule anyway (apart from in the minds of a small, and dwindling minority of hyper pompous judges)

I'll put this to the test tomorrow with some casual questions thrown into conversations with some judges - and let you know. Though I'm sure you're right.

I saw an excerpt of a Zoom talk on honey showing the other day. The lady (sorry no name but Welsh accent) said that honey inside the lid would rule out an entry.

 

[elainemary]

Thing is 'honey show' is pretty self explanatory - it's a place to show off your honey, the wax products was a side shoot from that, the wax cake is different again, and is one of the few categories that is more of a test of the beekeeper than the product.
As for the 'rules' some of them are just borne of people's imaginations - like the fuss about travel staining, with people ruining their entries by taking off the lids and replacing them (thus losing all the aroma) just before judging, and has been proven to be a mythical rule anyway (apart from in the minds of a small, and dwindling minority of hyper pompous judges)
Most are common sense rules and are there to ensure people are preparing the honey as if for sale (no buyer in their right mind would want honey with loads of scum on the surface, or bits of bee floating around in it)
As for the jars (I've heard of some throwing a tantrum because the rules stipulate using squat 1Lb 'ministry' jars) it's just there to ensure uniformity, and to ensure a level playing field where the honey is judged and not the container) Of course, the commercial classes are a bit different, in some classes you are allowed more licence with the jars and, as long as you follow TS rules on font size etc, the label design is down to your imagination, in fact, in commercial classes, there is a specified number of points that are reserved for the label, with more points possible for a home designed label compared to an 'off the shelf' one.
It's the honey cake classes I find pointless and probably stemmed from the old misogynistic days of beekeeping where the men showed their honey and wax and socialised, and they threw in a baking category just to keep the little woman occupied.

You make some v good points. The 3 judges I’ve shadowed / stewarded for this years shows, didn’t look or consider travel staining of lids, were not interested in matching jars with the same numbers on, or some of the other watch outs I’ve read about. Their focus was much more whether the honey or wax was fit for sale ie no scum or foreign bodies, the aroma and the taste of honey. Wax, not the whitest, but the best aroma, the cleanest / best filtered and of course to show skill and attention to detail in the moulding / dipping to choose the final winner (s). At local level the shows are much more about encouraging people to enter rather than setting the bar too high. Guess the bar should be higher at a national level.

Was pleased to see more up to date classes at the NHS such as newsletter design and 3D printing, as well as traditional crafts and honey classes. Agree with @TomH much could be done to modernise further. As a first timer there seemed to be too many duplicate classes and it is confusing in that respect.

Together with the lectures, the workshops, the trade show and the evening events and networking with other fellow beekeepers, the NHS in my opinion, was well worth going to as a first timer, even from the far North of England!

 

[Erichalfbee]

Together with the lectures, the workshops, the trade show and the evening events and networking with other fellow beekeepers, the NHS in my opinion, was well worth going to as a first timer, even from the far North of England

I certainly enjoyed going. I went years ago when it was somewhere I don't remember (age) I had not long started beekeeping and ordered my Giordan drill driven extractor there. It must have been around 2009? Can anybody remember where it was then?The next visit was the first year it was at the racecourse and I really did enjoy the lectures, a couple of workshops and spent too much money at the show.
I really must make it again before I fall off the beekeeping cliff.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Unlike the NHS which is mostly attended by the beekeeping community, the public do see our local show and it is a very worthwhile PR exercise.

The Royal Welsh National honey show is very popular (both with beekeepers and the great unwashed) a few years ago the then director of the Royal Welsh decided to move the whole honey show from the Glamorgan hall, slap bang in the middle of the show, just opposite the food hall and put us in a far inferior location in the horticulture tent (he could then rake in loads of cash by renting out stall spaces to traders and tat merchants. This year, someone spoke to the regular stall holders that shared that hall and they said that footfall had dropped considerably since the move as everyone used to head for the honey show and then had a mooch around the rest of the hall

 

[Amari]

Travelling down to the Show tomorrow (Saturday), if anyone is meeting up at lunchtime can I gatecrash? Be good to put a face/name to fellow forum members.

Did you enter any classes this year and hopefully repeat your success of last year?