Another new class was introduced this year for other hive products to included polish, lip balm, hand cleanser and wax wraps. This attracted a good number of entries. A reason to include these new classes was because not all members have honey and there is a growing interest in these other hive products which are included in the National Honey Show. 

Most beekeepers will have noticed earlier in the summer that the honey crop was going to be small. It was not however anticipated that a large number of colonies would in fact have
little or no honey, except minimal amounts for the colony’s day to day survival. Earlier in the season the Queens’ laying rate was reduced and some colonies started to regress. 

In the address given by Tom Blackburn (Association President) at the presentations he considered that the judging had been professionally undertaken and equal to any Honey Show Judge. 

 Show Judging

The judging was divided into categories and judged by members that had the requisite knowledge to judge the category and they were as follows: 

Brad Davis – Honey, Wax and Mead, 

Alison Turner – Confectionery. 

Melanie Espin – Other Hive Products. 

Chris Clark – Forage and Anatomy.   

Ali Hollingbery and Hilary Hayward were the Honey Stewards 

Elizabeth Eveleigh and Martin Smythe were the Scorers and Record Keepers. 

Helen de Peyrecave and  Penny Adams provided a continues supply of tea and cakes. 

Dean Gregory and Chris Clark with other members set up and cleared the hall for the Show. 

Anne-Chantal Ballard – provided the floral displays around the hall. 

Sir Tom Blackburn – Presented the Trophies.

It was a good team effort, and I am grateful to all those people involved who made this possible and an enjoyable occasion. 

It was disappointing that only 16 members (21 in 2019) entered the Show out of a membership of 180 members. Especially as the classes covered a wider number of classes to accommodate for a poor honey crop. The number of classes had been reduced to 36 classes (48 in 2019) in the schedule but had a wider scope than had been available in prior years. 

There were some dispensations for entries this year as some of the classes could not be achieved due to poor weather and performance by the colonies. Combs were not drawn out to the extent that they are normally. The reason for the dispensation was to ensure a variety of entries could be on display to show a full range of products from the hive. 

This year we were not able to award the Blue Ribbon which can only be awarded by a National Honey Judge, for the reason that this year we did not achieve the requisite number of entries to qualify to be able to award the Blue Ribbon. 

A summary of the entries in the Honey Show were as follows: 

Show Trophies

The Cocke Trophy 

The highest number of points in Honey Classes 1 to 12.                                         Richard Brewer 

HONEY SHOW JUDGING – Honey Classes – Brad Davis

It was a pleasure to judge the entries of those members who took the opportunity to test their ability to best present the efforts of their bees’ endeavours at the Annual Honey show. I made notes of all the classes and am happy to respond to any emails from those members who entered and wish to know how I considered their particular entry (PDBKA@BeeDavis.co.uk). I also offer the following summary of the judging process for the jarred honey classes.
Before judging started all entries were checked to make sure they were entered into the right class. This was primarily to check the colour of liquid honey entries. David and the Honey Show administrators moved those that were incorrect to their correct class. Strictly this should be the responsibility of the entrant but requires use of standardised grading glasses.
Judging progressed one class at a time and was based on gradual elimination. The first stage in checking the jarred classes was to perform an external examination of the entries as they sat on the bench. Those that failed not being considered further. Next one jar of each entry more closely examined with the aid of a torch. Then an internal examination was undertaken with the aroma when first opened being noted. Finally a check on texture/ viscosity and taste of those entries remaining was used to place the entries. If there were faults with an entry that was placed the points awarded were modified downwards accordingly. These points were used to award some of the trophies that bridge more than one class.
Finally, well done to all those who received a placing certificate and particularly well done to those who received a trophy (or two!). I would like to echo the thanks made at the end to the Honey Show administrators and David Parkinson by our President Tom Blackburn and wish David all the best as he leaves us for pastures new next season. 

Class Winners