## **Bee Improvement and Bee Breeders Association** ## **Trustees’ Report** ## **Year Ended 31st December 2024** The Bee Improvement & Bee Breeders Association (BIBBA) is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales No 1200969. Our principal contact address is Cairn Cottage, Spring Lane, New Milton, Hampshire, BH25 5QB. Our principal email contact address is secretary@bibba.com Our working name is the Bee Improvement and Bee Breeders Association (BIBBA). Our website address is bibba.com Our constitution can be downloaded from https://bibba.com/constitution/ We do not have any trading subsidiaries. No trustees receive any remuneration, payments or benefits from the charity other than the reimbursement of approved expenses incurred exclusively on BIBBA activities. The charity commission approved the new CIO in November 2022, and the assets of the previous unincorporated charity (Bee Improvement and Bee Breeders Association No 273827) have been transferred to the new CIO. Those who were members of the unincorporated charity have had their membership transferred to the new charity. The Charity’s Bankers are: - Lloyds Bank, Business Banking, BX1 1LT - PayPal., 22-24 Boulevard Royal, L-2449, Luxembourg - Redwood Bank, The Nexus Building, Letchworth Garden City, SG6 3TA The Auditing Accountants are Azets, Ruthlyn House, 90 Lincoln Road, Peterborough, PE1 2SP **Trustees in 2024** : |**Trustees in 2024**:|| |---|---| |Roger Patterson|President, Lead Trustee: Education, CaSCA and Lead Trustee for
liaison with the BBKA and other beekeepingbodies.| |Nick Mawby|Chair,Membership& Website.| |Karl Colyer|DeputyChair & Lead Trustee Publications.| |Lynn Cartwright|Secretary.| |Emma Buckley|Lead Trustee Marketing.| |Martina Hendry|Lead Trustee Events Support.| |Stephen McGrath|Appointed November 2024: Lead Trustee Groups.| |Gareth Trehearn|Lead Trustee BM Editor & Social Media.| |Terence Hitchman|Resigned March 2025| |Brian Holdcroft|Resigned September 2024| |Peter Jenkins|Resigned September 2024| |Alla Neal|Resigned March 2025| |Jo Widdecombe|Resigned March 2025| The BIBBA Committee welcomes additional support for its activities whether this is as a Helper, Volunteer, a member of a sub-committee or as a Trustee. The process of initially becoming co-opted as a Trustee permits additional volunteers to contribute without incurring the full responsibilities from day one that Trustees are obliged to fulfil. The BIBBA Committee particularly welcomes additional support to assist with publicity, the review of scientific papers, website content creation and courses coordination. Support in other areas is also always welcome. ## **Governance** The Trustees have ensured that the operation of the Charity complies with the Charity Commission’s requirements, and they keep themselves up to date with the latest Charity Commission Guidance, as published on the Commission’s Website. ## **Reports:** **President’s Report** – Roger Patterson The Trustees remain committed to promoting the improvement of local honey bee stocks and advancing sustainable beekeeping practices throughout the UK and Ireland. Our principal objectives are to encourage the breeding and improvement of native and near native honey bees, particularly the dark European honeybee ( _Apis mellifera mellif_ era), and to support beekeepers in adopting best practices for sustainable husbandry. BIBBA is also committed to advancing general and scientific education and research in bee breeding, fostering collaboration between beekeepers, and disseminating knowledge through publications, workshops, and events. 2024 saw a number of changes of Trustees and we thank all outgoing Trustees for their efforts in bringing BIBBA to the stage it is now at, as well as welcome the new Trustees who bring not only a passion for achieving BIBBA’s objectives, but also skills and expertise which we can use to achieve our future aims. The future will see BIBBA continue to support beekeepers in achieving best practice in their beekeeping and increased collaboration with academic and industry partners. This collaboration will involve projects on local adaptation, disease resistance, and the impact of environmental changes on bee health, as well as how we can counter the numerous and explicit threats to UK beekeeping from bee diseases originating outside of the UK, and being potentially introduced to the UK, via imports of non-native bees _._ **Finance Report** – Michael Andrews (Appointed January 2025) The 2024 accounts were prepared with the generous help of the previous Treasurer, Alla Neal, and have been independently verified by our external auditors. BIBBA has no paid employees and relies entirely on the goodwill and unpaid work of Officers, Trustees and Volunteer Members. All expenditure is limited to direct expenses to support BIBBA’s duties, strategy and initiatives. BIBBA’s income is from three primary sources: 1. Membership subscriptions 2. Net surplus funds from education courses 3. Sales of BIBBA publications. There are small amounts of ad hoc funding from donations, bequests and sponsorships. Additional funding is obtained via the Government’s Gift Aid Scheme, and we thank all members who are taxpayers for registering their willingness to allow Gift Aid to be collected. ## **Revenue and Expenditure Report** The report shows a net surplus of £25,441 for 2024, with a major contribution from Training events net income. This is £11,636 higher than was achieved in 2023 (after the one-off benefit of the transfer of reserves from the previous BIBBA charity, on adoption of CIO status, is excluded). **Financial Statement Report** – The report shows a net balance of £163,398, and continues to show a healthy financial position. 2025 will see the launch of several new initiatives and planned improvements to the BIBBA website. We are therefore expecting to incur a small net revenue and expenditure deficit in 2025. The financial reports were presented to the AGM for consideration and approval. ## **Membership Report** – Nick Mawby On 31st December 2024 we had 978 members, an increase of 9 from the year before. During 2024, 154 members did not renew their membership and 163 new members joined, a churn of 17%. Website – the BIBBA website remains our important link to members, and we encourage visitors to see not only current news about initiatives and events, but also to explore the wealth of information, tips and advice collected there over many years. We have plans to widen the interaction with members with a redesign of the website and initiatives to provide regular “series” of articles on topics that might be too large for a one-off email. ## **Education Report** - Roger Patterson The Education sub-committee is responsible for much of the creation and delivery of BIBBA educational material. The work of the sub-committee covers organising and running Conferences, Workshops, and other Training events. 2024 saw several Practical Bee Improvement, CaSCA and “Train the Trainers” courses around the country. 2025 will see initiatives on encouraging the development of Varroa Resistant bees, and a range of winter courses for CaSCA members. The main aim of the Education initiatives remains to promote the raising of locally adapted bees to avoid bee diseases being introduced from imported sources. ## **CaSCA (Commercial and Semi Commercial Apiarists) Report** - Roger Patterson This is a special interest group within BIBBA for all members who sell honey, bees and/or hive products on a regular basis. Emphasis is placed on bees and queens being sold locally, so buyers obtain bees that suit their local environment and reduce or hopefully eliminate the need for imported queens. Courses for CaSCA members were held in 2024 and based on the acclaim with which these courses were received, further courses are planned for 2025. ## **Publications Report** – Karl Colyer Book sales remain a steady source of revenue for BIBBA, and we remain indebted to all who allow us to sell their books under the BIBBA name and donate their royalties on book sales to BIBBA. We continue to encourage course attendees to widen their theoretical knowledge of bee keeping by buying relevant books suggested by BIBBA, and this continues to be an important addition to courses. We also provide books as part of our trade stand offerings at various beekeeping events, and via bee equipment retailers, such as Thorne’s, and book resellers such as Northern Bee Books, and Amazon. ## **Groups Report** – Stephen McGrath BIBBA continues to recognise the benefits of working in a group, although a lack of Trustee time meant that this aspect did not receive the attention it required to maintain progress in 2024. The appointment of a new Lead Trustee and a thorough review and audit of Group activity, planned for 2025, will contribute to a regeneration strategy. In line with BIBBA’s aims we still see benefits from establishing more local Groups, especially as BIBBA progresses its’ Varroa Resistance initiative. ## **Marketing & Social Media Report** – Emma Buckley / Gareth Trehearn The BIBBA Monthly on-line magazine continues to be made available to all members, with a range of articles to interest new as well as established beekeepers. The importance of social media as part of our overall marketing has been recognised, and we plan to introduce a regular BIBBA presence on all popular social media platforms. This will also help to link and promote BIBBA initiatives, courses, events etc. across social media and the website. We will continue to take out appropriate advertising in relevant beekeeping magazines, although we will review the impact and value-added of this expenditure on a regular basis. I declare that there are no serious incidents that have not been reported to the Commission before submitting our return. Signed on behalf of the trustees Roger Patterson 20 October 2025 BEE IMPROVEMENT AND BEE BREEDERS ASSOCIATION INDEPENDENT EXAMINERS REPORT TOTHE TRUSTEES OF BEE IMPROVEMENf & 8EE 8REEDERS ASSOCIATION FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024 l POrt to th? trustees on rny exarnlnatbn of the flnanclal Statements of ee8 Improvernent & e•• er4od4ts Assod•tk*n Ith• char} fortheyearended 31 December X124. 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