Christmas 2009 Awards Night
The annual Christmas honey show awards and social night was held on the 11/12/09. The night was hosted by the very entertaining Fred Faulkner this year; who talked for a while on some long-since disappeared objects. These included a varied collection of World War One shovels, bushels and marine equipment which he brought along. Fred then told some stories of the local characters in Mid-Ulster before impressively reciting numerous poems from memory!
The night ended with lots of food, some mead and a raffle, where nearly everybody walked away with a prize!
Institute of Northern Ireland Beekeepers Annual Conference 2009
President of the INIB - Bill Turnbull waits in line as refreshments are served at the conference. Three MUBKA members attended the conference to hear speakers discussing American foulbrood (AFB), Queen rearing and beekeeping techniques.
Master beekeeper Jim Tew from Ohio gave an informative talk on the identification and lack of treatments for AFB whilst Master Beekeeper Jennifer Berry from Georgia University explained the cloak board method of queen rearing and how to assess the temperament and hygenic behaviour of a colony.
In addition, the Roe Valley Beekeepers Association held their annual honey show with an increase in exhibits from the previous year.
Loughry Show 2009
Smile for the camera! Hugh and John rest for a while at a busy Loughry Show.
Meanwhile Boyd shows the different types of frames found in a hive using another of our observation hives
Peatlands Park - Apple Day - October 2009
The MUBKA observation hive proved a great attraction at the Peatlands show
Knockloughrim Primary School Visit 04 May 2009
Our Apiary manager Boyd Willis visited Knockloughrim Primary school in Magherafelt to show the pupils some of the equipment we use and to talk to them about honeybees.
Boyd prepares the demonstration
The pupils see the inside of a honey extractor (left) and play around with frames, skeps, suits and smokers 
Two future beekeepers!!?? 
Institute of Northern Ireland Beekeepers October 2008 Conference.
On Saturday 25th october 2008 the MUBKA hosted the Institute of NI Beekeepers annual conference at Loughry college. Bill Turnbull opened the conference as the president of the institute and a number of speakers from both America and closer to home discussed important topics regarding beekeeping.
'Apple Sunday' in Peatlands Park - October 2006
The Association was invited to put on a display at 'Apple Sunday in Peatlands Park' on Sunday 22 October 2006. This was very well attended with an excellent turnout of visitors.
Great interest was shown in the observation hive and the range of beekeeping equipment on display. There was also honey tasting which proved very popular and convinced many of the benefits of using local honey.
Moneymore Primary School Visit
The school children of Moneymore P1, P2 & P3 were also able to see local bees when the Association took an observation hive to the school for the children to observe first hand. They were also given a choice of honey to taste; Macedonian and Local. Fortunately the Local seemed to be more popular.
St Malachy's Primary School, Drummullan Visit
Pupils from St Malachy's Primary School enjoyed an afternoon learning about bees in the apiary.
Pupils also had a chance to put on beekeeping suits and see the inside of a hive!
Visit to Cork 17 November 2005
Members of the MUBKA visited Cork on a 2 day fact finding trip. They flew from Belfast on 17/11/05 and arrived in Cork City. They had a guided tour of the English Market in Cork City where they were able to see the wide variety of food items on display from all over Europe and Ireland. The tour guide, Regina Sexton provided an interesting commentary on the origins of the market and in the walk around introduced many of the stall holders who were delighted to talk about their products on display and in many cases provided samples for tasting. Members then attended a workshop which concentrated on Cooperative approaches to marketing, processing and packaging honey. The following day Friday a visit to Duhallow Co-operative was arranged. Duhallow which is near Newmarket in west Cork has a very successful co-operative for the benefit of local farmers and producers to market their produce. The Cooperative was set up under funding from the EU Leader + scheme. The visitors were met by Pat Keane a board member and also an active beekeeper. Several other members of the Coop were present and the MUBKA visitors were given an overview of the setting up of the Duhallow Co-operative and the benefits to the local community. Rural groups such as in this area of Cork and the visitors from Mid Ulster have so much in common and this became very apparent in the exchange of views and the interaction between the locals and the visitors. The next visit was to the home of Michael and Kathleen Woulfe in Midleton. Michael is well known in beekeeping circles in Ireland and no stranger to some of the visitors as he and his wife Kathleen are very active in organising the annual beekeepers conference at Gormanston. The visitors were shown the honey processing plant which Michael runs from his home. This was a very impressive and allowed the visitors to see how honey could be easily processed and packaged economically. The visitors were then shown some true Irish hospitality and entertained in the Woulfe’s house where Kathleen provided liquid refreshment, tea and home made apple tart and scones. This was a great finish to an enjoyable two days. The visit was funded by the Leader +_Programme and delivered by East Tyrone Rural Ltd. Cookstown Western Shores made the arrangements and the visit was led by Development Manager Conor Corr and Project Officer Kenny Donaldson
Visit to Macedonia - October 2005
A group of 10 beekeepers from the Mid Ulster Beekeepers Association completed a 5 day study visit to Macedonia in October 2005. The purpose of the visit was to provide an opportunity for members of the Mid Ulster Beekeepers to study beekeeping processes and methods and to share and discuss best practice in a country known for its excellent honey production, processing and marketing strategies. The visit was funded by the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund under the Leader + Programme and delivered by East Tyrone Rural Ltd.
The group flew from Dublin on 3rd October and arrived in Skopje where they were met by their host and facilitator, Blagojche Najdovski; president of the local beekeeping association PCELA and manager of SFARM, the Macedonian agricultural federation. An interpreter was made available for the duration as was transport to see the country and sites.
During the visit the group were taken to see several apiaries near Veles and Sveti Nikole where they were able to observe and discuss Macedonian bee keeping techniques as well as their methods of varroa control.
We visited the Honey Processing plant in Sveti Noklole where we were shown their processing system and marketing ideas. They showed us their final product ready for sale and tasted more than our fair share!
We were shown how the Macedonian beekeepers have managed to produce a final product where the bees do their own bottling and produce cut comb in a jar! No-one could understand how they put the cap on.
