is bbka membership worth £25

[jakethedog]

Of the subs £14/15 is to the BBKA, £2 BDI & the remainder to the local BKA.
As our assoc subs are currently £21pa we get £5 per member to provide talks, training etc etc!

Are you not able to increase your association subs? Then surely you'd have more money for 'talks, training etc'?

 

[Ruary]

: in comparison FIBKA (of which I am an affiliate member) has not updated its syllabus in around 12 years (this came from a member of their education committee!) .

As a member of the FIBKA Education board and responsible for the microscopy exam I can confirm that the microscopy exam syllabus had been changed within that time frame. I know that the syllabus has been chaged elsewhere for example to include Varroa .
Ruary

 

[Teemore]

Here's a good example of a claim. A girl arrived uninvited to a party, got pissed and dived into a private family swimming pool and bashed her head. She then claimed against the owner because he hadn't put a sign around the pool stating depth of water).

Such is 21st Century Britain.

Thankfully her claim did not succeed(Though I imagine she may yet appeal)!!

Reasonableness/common sense still comes into consideration when determining liabilty but as people have long said, common sense isn't so common....

I am aware that there have been a number of recent claims upon public liability insurance offered through membership of/affiliation to the Federation of Irish Beekeeping Assiocations, some quite recently I believe. I am also aware of an ongoing case where a the BBKA and their insurers are acting on behalf of a beekeeper in a public liability claim. I only have basic details of the matter (and would love to have more detail) but consider that the outcome of the case (settlement or otherwise) will have implications for all beekeepers in the UK and Ireland.

Ruary,
Ta for the clarification - your comment about the microscopy exam syllabus being updated does ring a bell so apologies if my earlier comments were in part misleading. I can only recount what I was told by one of your colleagues on the FIBKA Examinations Board and sentiments that were relayed to me at Gormanston: there would appear to be frustration greater efforts are not going into a full revision of all the FIBKA syllabi.

I have recently had opportunity to speak with a number of people who lead Preliminary courses in the North and South and to a one, they indicated that they have felt compelled to add elements to the syllabus to ensure that they are giving new and beginning beekeepers accurate information and information they need to be effective beekeepers. They are to be commended for doing so but when trainers are having to routinely add to a prescribed syllabus, they argue that it is a sign that the syllabus needs a thorough update.

On another note Ruary, do you know if FIBKA faciliate distance study for the Intermediate Papers? There seems to be a dearth of people to lead Intermediate courses in my neck of the woods....

 

[Hebeegeebee]

"They have stopped the endorsement stuff but reserve the right in the future to consider it, I understand" - herrumph! that's what they want you to think!....
In fact, at the same time as they were loudly trumpeting that they had ceased the endorsement deals with Bayer etc, they were getting into bed with the CPA (a polite euphemism for the pesticide companies' trade body), and the BBKA's public affairs director has since been publicly schmoozing for Bayer (there's a link to video proof of that knocking around the forum somewhere)
SO, don't be fooled, the "old guard" are still in charge, there's been no apologies, no resignations, no instigation of true democracy following the utterly shameful "pesticide sponsorship" fiasco - just "business as usual" with their buddies in the pesticide industry (which to my mind is a very good reason for the proverbial ten-foot bargepole when dealing with the BBKA!)

I was expecting such a reply.

I too saw the video. That is not proof of anything apart from someone attending a conference related to insecticides which makes sense. There's just your overactive mind; the problem with conspracy theorists is that they believe that there is a conspiracy even when there isn't one and the less evidence of a consiracy makes them certain there is a conspracy! Maybe the top bananas at the BBKA shoot up Bayer pesticides every day. A bit of foil, a lighter and a tea spoon; a needle - all that sort of stuff. But you have no proof so cannot accuse.

For democracy, the BBKA does seem to be run like a Victorian gentlemens club - very slow and unresponsive and in the days of the internet sending a rep/delegate by horse drawn carriage to an annual meeting seems a bit old-fashioned; However the associations do send reps to meetings and it is there that votes and democracy is supposed to happen.

So if you want change in the BBKA, join your local association Brosville!

 

[Brosville]

No overactive mind, no conspiracy theory, just Tim Lovett doing what he's very good at, helping Bayer give the impression they're "bee friendly" - "Proof?" -the video says it all!
As I've said innumerable times, I can understand the "change from within" argument, but there are times that an organisation has just "gone too far" for me to be able to give my funding and tacit support as a point of principle - when there have been resignations or "firings" over the pesticide fiasco, true democracy put in place, and a root and branch reform carried out, I'll be happy to be a member, but I suspect hell will be freezing over first!

I tried joining my local association, but after a few meetings was faced with "join the BBKA or else" from one of the ruling elite, so chose "or else" as I'd experienced quite remarkable venom from the same hard-liners for daring to mention pesticides and (shock, horror) top bar hives .....
I shall forever be grateful to them for helping me decide my path in beekeeping - until I joined, I had no idea what a top bar hive was.....

 

[Russel]

Are you not able to increase your association subs? Then surely you'd have more money for 'talks, training etc'?

Possibly, we are 205 paid up members pre AGM Nov, not sure how many we will be after.
A few of us (3 on here)will also be taking a more active role in the running of the association. Although we have reasonable bank balances, the general view of some members is as we are a charity we can not charge more for certain things, hopefully that is about to change and we get into them into 21© eg. our basic training course was £15 , no requirement to join bka, buy kit or bees from us or even stay on after training complete; proposed to rise to £25 inc assoc mem subs but otherwise as above although "we" are proposing the provision of training colonies with the option to buy after 1yr.

Quote HeBeeGeeBee "For democracy, the BBKA does seem to be run like a Victorian gentlemens club - very slow and unresponsive and in the days of the internet sending a rep/delegate by horse drawn carriage to an annual meeting seems a bit old-fashioned; However the associations do send reps to meetings and it is there that votes and democracy is supposed to happen." It's the same at local level in some cases but there are moves afoot and a few in for a shock!

Russ

 

[For want of a better word]

Quote HeBeeGeeBee "For democracy, the BBKA does seem to be run like a Victorian gentlemens club - very slow and unresponsive and in the days of the internet sending a rep/delegate by horse drawn carriage to an annual meeting seems a bit old-fashioned; However the associations do send reps to meetings and it is there that votes and democracy is supposed to happen." It's the same at local level in some cases but there are moves afoot and a few in for a shock!





10 000 volts should do it !

 

[Russel]

Quote HeBeeGeeBee "For democracy, the BBKA does seem to be run like a Victorian gentlemens club - very slow and unresponsive and in the days of the internet sending a rep/delegate by horse drawn carriage to an annual meeting seems a bit old-fashioned; However the associations do send reps to meetings and it is there that votes and democracy is supposed to happen." It's the same at local level in some cases but there are moves afoot and a few in for a shock!





10 000 volts should do it !

Hopefully a good kick in the pants will suffice but will keep options open

 

[WelshPaul]

I think we will loose some but if we loose 5 and gain 50 who are willing to participate and help the association grow then so be it.


---
I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=51.675842,-2.912653

 

[saruhath]

New Member

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the forum and intrested in getting into beekeeping. I've read a few books and lots of online stuff. My computer works fine for everything except when trying to look at the BBKA site or the Nottinghamshire BKA site when it just locks up. Is it me or are there problems with these pages & links?

Thanks,
Shane.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

Hi Shane, The BBKA site is slow and the forum slower. The recent posts bit of the forum doesn't work at the moment either. Apparently plans are afoot to correct these - something to do with the IT company concerned.

 

[BKF Admin]

I paid said IT company lots of money to screw up their site.
If they are going to fix it I will have to pay them more...

 

[beeatshellards]

dont think you have any worries admin, we like it here!

 

[Russel]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the forum and intrested in getting into beekeeping. I've read a few books and lots of online stuff. My computer works fine for everything except when trying to look at the BBKA site or the Nottinghamshire BKA site when it just locks up. Is it me or are there problems with these pages & links?

Thanks,
Shane.

Welcome to the forum Shane,

If everywhere else is okay then don't see it being your computer.
Notts is hosted by BBKA so if you have problems with the parent site you'll most likely suffer with her offspring too.

Russ

 

[saruhath]

Thankyou

 

[For want of a better word]

Welcome to the forum Shane,

If everywhere else is okay then don't see it being your computer.
Notts is hosted by BBKA so if you have problems with the parent site you'll most likely suffer with her offspring too.

Russ

Sins of the Fathers?

 

[tonybloke]

I paid said IT company lots of money to screw up their site.
If they are going to fix it I will have to pay them more...