Do you mind me asking why you wouldn't do it again? (curious).
Where do I start?! Ok, first of all, it was for a school. We went in blindly, having no experience or knowledge of bees or bee keeping. At the time I was actually severely phobic, I was only meant to be involved in gaining a grant and setting up the project. Back then, my level of knowledge was if it wasn't a bumble bee, then it was a wasp, that's how much I knew, so none of us had any idea of how much work, and how much money, it would take to run an apiary, nor were we really advised. Once I did become aware of how much equipment we would need, having only been provided with a national brood box and 2 supers, it was too late, we had bees and the school were not prepared to put that kind of money into it. I'm am a terrible one for asking questions, hence my post count ( all questions btw, I know nothing ) and once my interest was piqued, I read lots plus I was in charge of arranging the inspection meets, so after the few meetings where our 'mentor' was present, and hearing me ask all the questions, everyone started to refer to me as the bee keeper and that was that.
Second of all, arranging meetings at times when everyone is free is an absolute nightmare. There is always someone who is disappointed, and makes their feelings known. You can't do right for doing wrong.
Thirdly, having your apiary on a site where people can access it can be troublesome, as I found out when someone decided they would use a test frame to check for queenlessness in their own hives, and decided I wouldn't mind them using a frame of eggs from our hive without asking, my queen just happened to be on the frame they took. Then there was the time one eager member of the group decided he would creosote the hive, with the bees inside, and only informed me he was doing it once he was half way through.......
Having lots of people involved, some who are very eager but don't do the reading, or ask the questions is another nightmare, as they feel they are their bees as much as anyone else's, and think they can invite anyone along and open up, at any time of the year, regardless of what is going on in the hive at the time, and without checking it's ok.
In the end, with my health failing, it was left to me to try and find money or equipment with no contacts. I don't drive so can't get to my local association as it's on the other side of the city to me, so I ended up going around all the local summer fetes, with my bee keeping equipment and some pictures, begging for donations. The people on this forum were very generous, and gave me a lot of support. It is because of this forum that those bees lasted as long as they did.
So that's why I will never be part of another group. In every group I've been in I've always ended up being the one doing all the work. I was asked yesterday if i was interested in being part of a project to set up some hives in a nearby park. Nooooooooo
but please, don't let me put you off! Just use my experiences as something to look out for and think about when setting up your project. It might be a totally different experience if there is already an experienced bee keeper, knowing what it takes from the start
All that being said, I did get a lot out of the experience, and I'm glad I did it. It has taken me places I would never have gone and I have met some of the best people I know through running that group, so there are lots of positives
Not intended personally but they get a bad press.
