NORTH DORSET BKA ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING NOV 2022 – TRUSTEES REPORT
ORGANISATION
Last year it was agreed that the routine management of Association activities would be delegated to a Management Committee. With the need to exercise close control over activities concerned with the new apiary project, the Trustees have additionally formed the New Apiary Working Group (NAWG). This has been given formal terms of responsibility (Attached) and has been meeting regularly since May.
FINANCES
The annual accounts are presented separately. With a return to a normal training pattern and good membership numbers, the routine aspects of the finances are in a very healthy state. The main change from last year is the creation of a New Apiary Fund into which are being put individual donations from members, the profits from outside events and money received from Gift Aid. The fund has also received a £500 donation from Dikes of Stalbridge, a grant of £2000 from the Dorset BKA and a transfer of £10,000 from our own General Fund. In this first year after registering for Gift Aid with HMRC, it has raised £347.
MEMBERSHIP
All Registered, Partner and Associate members are members of the CIO and have equal voting rights. The Charity Constitution defines Associates as “A member who does not currently keep bees but who has completed approved training or, in the opinion of the trustees, has appropriate experience”. Non-beekeeping members of the Association who do not meet this criterion are classed as Friend members and are not part of the CIO.
The CIO currently has 132 members, of whom 13 are Associates and 2 are Friends. These figures are provisional, as renewal is still in progress. The online renewal system using the eR2 national membership database does make life easier but this does require all members to use IT to confirm their membership requirements. A small minority need help with this. eR2 automatically keeps Gift Aid records in a form suitable for direct upload to HMRC.
TRAINING ACTIVITIES
Beginners Course
Our annual Beginners Course was held in 2022 following our established format and encompassing 25 new Beekeepers, with an additional 5 new Beekeepers also attending the Introduction Day. Once again, the Association is indebted to all the Tutors and other helpers who put in a lot of time and effort to make the programme such a success.
Modules (written examinations).
Courses were prepared and run for Modules 1, 3 and 6, which were also open to members of all Dorset Branch Associations, There were 21 students in total. Most simply wished to learn rather than to take the exams; however, the March 2022 exams saw two of our own members succeed with Module 6 (Honey Bee Behaviour) one of whom also passed Module 1 (Honey Bee Management).
The results of the module exams taken recently will not be available until 2023 but two members sat for Module 1, one member sat for Module 5 (Bee Biology) and one for Module 8 which is the final written exam (Honey Bee Management, Health & History).
Practical Assessments
Congratulations are due to two of our members, James Nalty and Ron Briggs, who took the Basic Assessment with great success; also to Gordon Grant, who passed the demanding General Husbandry (practical) Assessment.
Planned Courses 2023
Invitations are now open for the Beginners course in 2023. This is filling up well with only seven vacancies available for the course itself, while the Introduction Day is now full.
Courses have been arranged for those members wishing to study Modules 1, 2 and 5. These start in January, concluding in time for the March exams for those wishing to sit them, though that is not obligatory. These courses are open to members of all Dorset Branch Associations.
An advanced course will again be offered for those members who are looking for guidance on rearing queens or for those who want to take the Basic Assessment and anyone who is interested should let me know please.
NEW APIARY
It is acknowledged that the current training apiary is inadequate in a number of ways. We have an agreement with Dorset County to lease a site in the same village which will enable us to create a properly suitable and accessible training apiary and associated training facilities. The trustees have decided that the most effective way to take this project forward is to set up a New Apiary Working Group (NAWG) to which a number of responsibilities have been delegated. Current membership of the NAWG is: Geoff Buckland, Robbie Baird, James Nalty, Ian Condon and Tim Villiers, who have reported that:
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The lease has not yet been signed. We are awaiting final notification from the association’s solicitor that the terms have been finalised and agreed. It came to light recently that under the terms of a settlement made in 1704, the Church of England could have the right to income from the land. The association has had to take out indemnity insurance against this right ever being exercised, at a cost of £650.00.
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Without a lease in place it has not been possible to arrange the provision of mains services or agree the phased building plan on which tenders could be invited.
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The NAWG has therefore focussed its attention on developing the fund raising message, agreeing a fund raising plan and alerting the association’s members to the need for fund raising.
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A leaflet has been produced with professional help and a small number of donations received.
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Fund raising will start in earnest when the lease is signed.
OUTSIDE EVENTS
Gillingham & Shaftesbury Spring Countryside Show
NDBKA provided an education and information stand at this two-day show in April. The siting of the stand was not conducive to an observation hive, but we had a wide range of beekeeping equipment and information available. Also, we sold honey and offered a honey tasting experience. The stand was well patronised by the public.
Gillingham & Shaftesbury Show.
The association organised and manned the Bees & Honey marquee at the 2022 Gillingham & Shaftesbury Show in August. The reintroduction of this tent by the show committee was a great success, allowing the staging of a full honey show as well as several exhibits and activities to entertain the public while providing information about bees, honey and pollination.
The honey show was open to all beekeepers with a variety of classes for honey, wax and honey-infused culinary creations; some classes were restricted to NDBKA members and novice exhibitors. Many congratulations to Gordon Grant who won several classes and was the winner the overall Bayliss Shield.
Members of the public were able to observe a beehive containing a queen and live flying bees, view beekeeping equipment provided by Geoff Buckland, taste a variety of honeys, roll beeswax candles and purchase honey, other hive products and small bee-related gifts.
The marquee was busy throughout the day, with many very interested visitors able to talk to knowledgeable stewards about bees and related subjects.
Gillingham Library
Once again, NDBKA members provided an observation hive and information stand for a morning in August as part of the library’s summer programme for children. The event was well attended., with both children and parents showing a great interest in the subject.
Tim Villiers Lesley Gasson Robert Camping Terry Payne Gordon Grant
4 Nov 22
ACCOUNTS FOR YEAR 2021/2022
| INCOME AND EXPENDITURE | INCOME AND EXPENDITURE | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income | 2021/22 | 2020/21 | Expenditure | 2021/22 | 2020/21 | |||
| Membershipfees | 4606.20 | 3851.20 | Cap/BDI | 3504.80 | 2896.20 | |||
| Training | 5284.00 | 4557.00 | Venue Hire | 980.00 | 270.00 | |||
| Produce Sales | 1149.50 | 540.00 | (1) | Social | 0.00 | 0.00 | ||
| Supplies sales | 0.00 | 0.00 | Apiarysupplies/equipment | 379.29 | 544.62 | |||
| Equipment sales/use | 50.00 | 40.00 | Supplies | 126.35 | 551.60 | |||
| NSI interest | 0.53 | 37.60 | Other training | 241.79 | 168.72 | |||
| Social | 15.30 | 0.00 | Donations | 0.00 | 0.00 | |||
| Bee Suit Deposits | 385.00 | 460.00 | Bee Suit Deposits returned | 105.00 | 390.00 | |||
| Outside Events | 2142.78 | 20.00 | (2) | Website costs | 210.00 | 236.52 | ||
| Donations | 7591.37 | 175.00 | (3) | Outside Events | 532.50 | 308.10 | ||
| Gift Aid | 347.72 | 0.00 | Gen admin expenses | 349.94 | 112.68 | |||
| New apiaryexpenses | 537.75 | 952.00 | (4) | |||||
| Surplus foryear | 14604.98 | 3250.36 | ||||||
| 21572.40 | 9680.80 | 21572.40 | 9680.80 | |||||
| BALANCE SHEET | ||||||||
| Cash | 114.08 | Bee Suit depreserve Oct 21 | 70.00 | |||||
| Lloyds Bank | 29540.39 | Cap/BDI reserve 1 Oct 21 | 1035.00 | |||||
| NSI | 5261.14 | General Fund 1 Oct 21 | 17776.94 | |||||
| 34915.61 | TrainingReserve Oct 21 | 662.00 | ||||||
| Less Liabilities | 591.69 | (5) | New ApiaryProject Fund Oct 21 | 175.00 | ||||
| Surplus foryear | 14604.98 | |||||||
| 34323.92 | 34323.92 | |||||||
| FUNDS AS AT 30 SEP 2022: | Cap/BDI Reserve | 1087.65 | ||||||
| Bee Suit Reserve | 350.00 | (6) | ||||||
| General Fund | 13699.65 | |||||||
| Project Fund | 19186.62 | (7) | ||||||
| 34323.92 | ||||||||
NOTES:
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NDBKA honey sold through Dike and Son of Stalbridge
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The Shaftesbury and Gillingham Show and the smaller event held in April, the Shillingstone Concert, and a small sum from Gillingham Library
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Personal donations by members, swarm collection, £2000 from Dorset BKA, £500 from Dikes, and the donated proceeds from Ian Condon’s Open Garden in June
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£40 for Lottery Licence to support fundraising, £497.75 for fundraising leaflet design work
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Invoices and expenses for work carried out in FY21/22 but not presented or paid until after year end.
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Bee suit return has been slow this year. The reserve covers the refund of deposits
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The project fund is calculated as the starting balance plus the total of donations, the profit on outside events, the amount received from Gift Aid, and a £10,000 transfer from the General Fund – less New Apiary Expenses