is bbka membership worth £25

[newportbuzz]

hi i am thinking of joining the bbka to get access to there online info and forums and there newsletter.
I am in south ireland and they have an Overseas Individual Member of the BBKA at £25 which inludes all this. Just wondering from members is it worth it for what you get. since i cant see what i am going to get i am basicly buying a pig in a poke
I know you have to for the insurance but thats not a factor for me.

thanks for all the info.
ps admin if this is in wrong place sorry and feel free to move it.

 

[victor meldrew]

hi i am thinking of joining the bbka to get access to there online info and forums and there newsletter.
I am in south ireland and they have an Overseas Individual Member of the BBKA at £25 which inludes all this. Just wondering from members is it worth it for what you get. since i cant see what i am going to get i am basicly buying a pig in a poke
I know you have to for the insurance but thats not a factor for me.

thanks for all the info.
ps admin if this is in wrong place sorry and feel free to move it.

Let World War Three commence !!!!
VM

 

[For want of a better word]

TIN HAT AT THE READY​

If there is another well produced and well written and dogma free magazine published in English with nice photos and up to date and relevant information about bees and beekeeping.... at around £2.00 per issue then I would probably subscribe to it.

I presume from your given location you would not be able to benefit from taking all the exams and collecting all the certificates to display in your study, or to attend local group apiary meetings and gain experience from mentorship and all the long standing and knowledgeable group members and to enjoy competing for prizes for best honey, honey cakes or mead?

Never had to claim on the BBKA insurance..... and do not know of anyone who has... so honestly can not comment on that!


Possibly not then!

 

[eric]

Dont waste your money

 

[victor meldrew]

Dont waste your money

Mortar attack!!! Take cover!!!
VM

 

[jakethedog]

to get access to there online info and forums and there newsletter.

i can't really see that either the forum or the newsletter would be worth paying for. as for any other online info they have I very much doubt that there's a lot there which you can't source for free from elsewhere. probably better off putting the money towards a bee craft subscription (never thought i'd write that!).

i'd take a different view of membership if you were in the UK but to me the whole 'overseas' membership thing seems a little pointless.

 

[eric]

In coming round heads down

 

[Poly Hive]

If they have a forum I am amazed as poor Dave Cushman was trying for years to push them into getting on line savvy.

Would I again spend money on the BBKA?

I would have to be seriously convinced it has changed it's spots.

Any BBKA members willing to say why it's of any value?

PH

 

[newportbuzz]

WOW
i am glad i asked, i reckon you lot just saved me £25. Aint got many of them anyway !

 

[BillyGoat]

I am a member of my local association and get all the guff in the post and the insurance and the website and forum access etc...

To me the £25 is well spent for membership of local association, the local contacts, knowledge, friendship and someone to help when you cannot find the Queen!

The rest of it is very secondary. I occasionally read the articles in the magazines and have checked out the forum.
It's a poor second to this one which is usually first point of call if I get a problem.

I would say £25 better spent elsewhere for you.

 

[Black Comb]

For me local contacts, training etc.
Insurance too here in UK.

 

[Teemore]

I ventured onto their fourm once and it was a bit like a ghost town....

I have some interest in their modular exam system as it does appear that they are at least trying to keep up to date with their syllabi: 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!) I have dipped into a few bits on their forum and whilst these are of 'interest', I think there is more subject matter on this forum which is of interest and of benefit to the average beekeeper but I have to admit I haven't explored every part of the BBKA website. The newsletter is good - probably an easier read than An beachara (apologies if I have spealt it incorrectly!) due to the layout and more extensive use of pictures but that is not to criticise An Beachara.

 

[susbees]

If they have a forum I am amazed as poor Dave Cushman was trying for years to push them into getting on line savvy.

Dave Cushman's self-moused web-style left us a wealth of knowledge BUT was an almost unfathomable system to work with (and the BIBBA site has atrophied since his passing, for all I know for that reason).

The BBKA forum is an embarrassment and the shop still closed many months, hell you can get a web-shop going online in what, half an hour?

Overseas membership. Seems pointless indeed...unless you want to attend the Spring convention instead of Gormanston.

 

[newportbuzz]

The newsletter is good - probably an easier read than An beachara (apologies if I have spealt it incorrectly!) due to the layout and more extensive use of pictures but that is not to criticise An Beachara.

an beachara can be quite hard to read at times .


susbees i doubt i will be at the Spring convention. i should be at gormanstown this year again tho.

is there discounts for the convention and other activities built into membership?

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

I am a member of my local association and get all the guff in the post and the insurance and the website and forum access etc...

To me the £25 is well spent for membership of local association, the local contacts, knowledge, friendship and someone to help when you cannot find the Queen!

The rest of it is very secondary. I occasionally read the articles in the magazines and have checked out the forum.
It's a poor second to this one which is usually first point of call if I get a problem.

I would say £25 better spent elsewhere for you.

 

[Tom Bick]

I don’t know if its worth it I get membership as with the majority through their local associations and they are worth every penny.

 

[Poly Hive]

Sorry all in a great deal of pain here at the moment and miss read the OP.

I read it as BIBBA. My comments referred to that.

I have cancelled my BBKA membership as I was an "Individual member" which meant I paid more than an ordinary member and got nothing for it including no right to vote.

When I wrote to the membership sec regarding this and said that normally he who pays the piper gets the chance to ask for a tune I got a rather rude and cheeky letter back.

I have voted with my feet.

Why am I not a member of the local assoc? By reason of time and distance. Both that I would have joined are sadly at the wrong end of the counties and as my business life is busy at 6-9pm that makes life a bit awkward.

I would though strongly urge people to get involved with their associations as there can be some very good fringe benefits, as in for instance extractor loan and so on.

PH

 

[dclewis]

I have paid the overseas membership. Head down, personal opinion here, I used to find their forum quite good, but since May and their new web site it died. So forget that.

No insurance and no local contacts as an oveseas member, but you can still do their assessments, I am in France and had the choice of doing the basic either back in the UK, for you to arrange where and when is convenient, or in France at least they have 1 assessor in the Lot and Garronne I believe. For me it was easier to go back to the Uk and do it at the same time as visiting family/holidays.

Modules you can do again by correspondence course, once you have your basis assessment. The exams I think can also be done abroad if you arrange in advance with the education officer for the paper to be sent to an independant and responsible person who will envigilate the exam or again taken in the UK.

Then its a matter of opinion on the news letter.

 

[jimbeekeeper]

I am a member of my local association and get all the guff in the post and the insurance and the website and forum access etc...

To me the £25 is well spent for membership of local association, the local contacts, knowledge, friendship and someone to help when you cannot find the Queen!

The rest of it is very secondary. I occasionally read the articles in the magazines and have checked out the forum.
It's a poor second to this one which is usually first point of call if I get a problem.

I would say £25 better spent elsewhere for you.

 

[Brosville]

I was under the impression that the forum had succumbed to "FCD" (forum collapse disorder).......
Do I need to mutter darkly about giving £25 all to the greater glory of "Pestco. Inc" as well? - total waste of money!