It is my great pleasure and duty as the chairman of the newly formed Darlington Beekeeping Association to welcome you all and to thank every one of our new members who have volunteered to take on duties with our committee and for their enthusiasm and determination to get the association up and running.  This has been very encouraging.  I would particularly like to put on record my thanks to Roger Chappel for his initial concept of having a local beekeeping Association on the door-step and for the enormous amount of work that he has so keenly committed himself too. His knowledge on beekeeping plus his experience of being a Chairman and other key roles on committees plus his overall standing in the bee community will give us a great foundation for the future well-being of the association .

           The principle purposes of our association is to promote good beekeeping practise among those within Darlington and surrounding areas; to provide education, training and support to those already keeping bees, as well as those interested in the craft; to provide a sense of congenial 'fraternity' among local beekeepers (we are equally open to women as well as men, irrespective of age, experience or background) ; to provide sources of information to the wider, non-beekeeping public about the craft and the fascinating world of the honey bee; and, finally, to collect swarms that may occur within the Darlington area, thus providing a service to the local community. Much of this is achieved through our affiliation with the British Beekeepers' Association, which provides a national programme of structured courses and educational publications.

          The interesting art of beekeeping is without doubt one of the finest hobbies there is - it ticks so many boxes. It is important for our Planet and it is technically stimulating - allowing hands-on skills to shine and gives all of us the opportunity to make good friends and contacts in the beekeeping world which will help in solving some of the many problems that we encounter in our every-day world. Our association cannot function without the support and enthusiasm of its members and with this in mind it is important that we all take our roles seriously and in the correct manner. At this moment there are several ongoing projects with members of our committee and these will in the future come to your attention, this is exactly the type of teamwork that we need. It should also be our aim to encourage new ideas and to keep in touch with the latest technologies to improve our skills and we should endeavour to find the answers through various methods - we do, of course, welcome discussions on all these matters.

               We are very determined, right from the start, to develop a well organised, well run, healthy and, above all, friendly association for the benefit of all our members so may I end with a final thought.  Bees have been inhabiting our planet Earth for some 150 million years, long before the human race arrived and so deserve to be respected. Please try to remember this and I’m sure the bees will be kind to you also. Good luck for the 2012 season and best wishes to you all.

Len Mutton (Chairman)

     1st January 2012