Monthly Meetings

VAA Melbourne Section face-to-face monthly meetings are back in 2021.

However, to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and to protect the beekeeping community from the virus, the VAA Melbourne Section face-to-face monthly meetings will be COVID-safe with contact details being recorded and masks being worn.

Remember that many of our beekeeping community are in higher risk groups, so your compliance with COVID-safe procedures is important.

Next Meeting:

March meeting

The Avenue Church of Christ, Surrey Hills.

7:30pm - 9:30pm on Thursday 25th March 2021

NEW VENUE         NEW VENUE         NEW VENUE         NEW VENUE          NEW VENUE      

The March meeting of 2021 will be held at the NEW VENUE: The Avenue Church of Christ, Surrey Hills. 

The NEW VENUE address is 1 The Avenue, Surrey Hills. It is located near the corner of Warrigal Rd and Canterbury Rd.

The Avenue Church of Christ is a versatile venue with good A/V and three spaces that we can use to spread out our activities. Beginner's Corner commences when you arrive in the Chapel. The shop and library are set up in the Hall.

Main activities:

• From recreational beekeeper to commercial beekeeper. John Winkels is our guest speaker. John started at the Melbourne Section as a recreational beekeeper with ambitions to be a commercial beekeeper. He now runs a large scale commercial beekeeping business. 
• Beginner's Corner for 2021. Send your photos or issues to vaamelbournesection@hotmail.com or bring your questions along on the night. Beginners Corner will be operating from as early as you get there: Don't wait until 7:30 to give John van Weeghel and his assistants a tough question!

Hope to see you there.

Mike Love

Chairperson VAA Melbourne Section

Past Meetings:

February meeting at Church of Christ, Surrey Hills.

7:30pm - 9:30pm on Thursday 25th February 2021

NEW VENUE         NEW VENUE         NEW VENUE         NEW VENUE          NEW VENUE      

The second meeting of 2021 will be held at the NEW VENUE: Church of Christ, Surrey Hills. 

The NEW VENUE address is 1 The Avenue, Surrey Hills. It is located near the corner of Warrigal Rd and Canterbury Rd.

Theme

• Everything Queens!  David Briggs will be our guest speaker. David is a well known and very experienced queen breeder.
• Featuring the return of Beginner's Corner for 2021. Send your photos or issues to vaamelbournesection@hotmail.com or bring your questions along on the night.

Hope to see you there.

Mike Love

Chairperson VAA Melbourne Section

The Collingwood Children's Farm Apiary

6pm - 9pm on Thursday 28th January 2021

The Collingwood Children’s Farm Apiary (CCFA) is the setting for the first Monthly meeting of 2021.

Theme

The three themes of the evening are

• Gadget Night - focusing on honey extraction and wax rendering alternatives
• Acknowledging 65 years of the VAA Melbourne Section
  
• Collingwood Children's Farm Apiary introduction
  

Raffle and Food

There will be no charge to attend this meeting. We will be running a raffle with lots of prizes like packs of wax foundation, queen vouchers, Nuc boxes and frames.

We will run a sausage sizzle with soft drinks and a fruit platter. The food will be served to you rather than you selecting from open plates.  

COVID-Safe

Now that the COVID restrictions have eased, we can hold (almost) normal meetings again. We will still be practising social distancing and request that you bring and use a mask.

Many of our members are in the higher risk categories, so please keep COVID-safe. We are asking you to register prior the event so that we can ensure tracing if required.

Register please

To ensure that we are running a COVID-safe event, we will need to record the names and contact details for every attendee.

Please reply to this email address (vaamelbournesection@hotmail.com) with the names and contact numbers of yourself and anyone coming with you.

Getting there

This outdoor meeting will be in the apiary paddock.

For a map of the apiary location, please visit https://farm.org.au/visit/the-apiary/ . 

At the end of St Heliers St, walk past the vehicle gate and follow the Main Yarra Trail bicycle path to the right, past the farm office entrance, past the farm cafe and about 50 metres around the curve you will arrive.  

Don’t go through the Convent because you can’t get to the apiary that way.

Parking

There is a carpark on St Heliers St opposite the convent: charges about $7 for 2 hours. The nearby streets have many local parking variations. Studley Park Rd has a clearway travelling east until at least 6:30pm.

Backup Plan

If COVID rules change or the weather is looking poor, we will revert to a Zoom meeting. A final decision will be made on Sunday based on the weather forecast. A confirmation email for the Apiary or the Zoom meeting will be sent out on Sunday 24 January 2021.

We look forward to seeing you for an entertaining night, catching up with long separated friends and some new knowledge at the CCF Apiary on Sunday 24th January.

Thank you and regards,

Mike Love

VAA Melbourne Section Chairperson

Zoom Meeting on Thursday 26th November 2020

Agenda

• The meeting will commence with Beginners' Corner at 7:30 pm 
• • John Van Weeghel will be your coordinator of answers
  • Theme: Enjoy Summer but plan ahead!
• The presentations will be followed by questions and discussions.
• Please email me, Rob Kerr, at vaamelbournesection@hotmail.com before Thursday 26th November, if you have any particular questions that you wish discussed. Include any relevant photos as attachments to your email.
• 8:15 Mead, Mead Making and the Walkabout Apiary.
  Greg and Donald Whitehead and family provide a range of bee related products.
• 9:15 Reports and Bees in the News.
• 9:30 The meeting will conclude with the random selection of the winner of the door prize which will be 20 sheets of wax foundation.

Procedures and information given at this meeting are not necessarily endorsed nor recommended by the Victorian Apiarists Association Inc nor its Melbourne Section.

Note that we are unable to provide supper but we encourage you to provide your own.

We ask you to register for the meeting. Preferably, this should be done before the meeting starts. You can also register after the meeting has started. To register, click on this link: 

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIlcu2orT8jGNUpyN0t_L8SvbXCT4i2Tk8K

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email which will contain a link to the meeting.

The meeting will have a wait room: you will be admitted as quickly as we can do so.

We request that, initially, you attend the meeting with your picture and your name displayed as a courtesy to the meeting attendees.

During the meeting, I ask you to mute your microphone unless you are speaking. This will mean that there will be no background sound to interfere with the meeting's proceedings. If microphones are left on, I may mute you to stop background noise, but you may unmute yourself to speak.

To join by phone (audio only)

1. Dial this number: 7018 2005

2. When prompted by the phone, enter this Meeting ID number 868 5403 4921, followed by #

There is no need to enter a participant ID. Just enter #

Regards, Rob Kerr (VAA Melbourne Section Secretary)

Annual General Meeting Thursday 29th October by Zoom

Only VAA Members could attend this meeting.

Invitations to attend were emailed to all VAA Members.

Zoom Meeting on Thursday 24th September 2020

Agenda Theme: Pollination

The meeting will commence at 7:30 pm with the following agenda

• Welcome by J-P Scheerlinck, VAA Melbourne Section Chairperson
• How Bees Find Flowers (Barry Cooper)
• Seed Crop and Almond Pollination (Steven Gell)
• Almond Pollination (Eric Smith and Graeme Grigson)
• Biosecurity during the Almond Pollination (Ally Driessen, Victorian Bee Biosecurity Officer)P"Beginners Corner" Panel discussion about beekeeping questions (Eric Smith, Graeme Grigson, J-P Scheerlinck)
• Please email me at vaamelbournesection@hotmail.com on or before Wednesday 23rd September, if you have any particular questions that you wish discussed, particularly regarding swarm prevention and collection. Include any relevant photos as attachments to your email.
• AGM Procedures (at approx. 9:10)
• Bees in the News
• The meeting will conclude at 9:30 with the random selection of the winner of the door prize which will be a $20 shopping voucher.

The meeting will be recorded.

Procedures and information given at this meeting are not necessarily endorsed nor recommended by the Victorian Apiarists Association Inc nor its Melbourne Section.

Note that we are unable to provide supper but we encourage you to provide your own.

You will need to register for the meeting. Preferably, this should be done before the meeting starts. You can also register after the meeting has started. To register, click on this link: 

 https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0tceivrTIqH9QVPzj6iIocbgxYL1rzyw75

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email which will contain a link to the meeting.

The meeting will have a wait room. 

To participate in the meeting, you will need to have your first and last name shown.

If this is not shown, you will be asked to show it.

During the meeting, I ask you to mute your microphone unless I have allowed you to speak. This will mean that there will be no background sound to interfere with the meeting's proceedings.

To join by phone (audio only)

1. Dial this number: 7018 2005

2. When prompted by the phone, enter this Meeting ID number 890 6173 9050, followed by #

There is no need to enter a participant ID. Just enter #

Past Meeting:

Zoom Meeting on Thursday 27th August 2020

Agenda Theme: Swarm Prevention and Collection

• Beginners' Corner will commence at 7:30 pm 

Eric Smith will review methods of Swarm Prevention 
Barry Cooper, Mike Love, J-P Scheerlinck and Eric Smith will describe a variety of methods of Swarm Collection.

• The presentations will be followed by questions and discussions.

Please email me at vaamelbournesection@hotmail.com before Thursday 27th August, if you have any particular questions that you wish discussed, particularly regarding swarm prevention and collection. Include any relevant photos as attachments to your email.

• 8:30 Understanding of Bee Biology by Hunter-gatherers in Southern India
  

Dr Aung Si from The University of Cologne, interviewed by J-P Scheerlinck

• 9:15 Reports and Bees in the News
  
• 9:30 The meeting will conclude with the random selection of the winner of the door prize which will be a $20 shopping voucher.

The meeting will be recorded.

Procedures and information given at this meeting are not necessarily endorsed nor recommended by the Victorian Apiarists Association Inc nor its Melbourne Section.

To join the meeting (video and audio)

• Click here to read detailed instructions about joining and participating in the meeting
  
• You will need to register for the meeting. Preferably, this should be done before the meeting starts. You can also register after the meeting has started. 
• To register, click on this link: 

  https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUvfu2ppjMjHNaEIT0leD4qfH2RX8sG7B5R

  After registering, you will receive a confirmation email which will contain a link to the meeting.
• The meeting will have a wait room. 
• To participate in the meeting, you will need to have your first and last name shown. If this is not shown, you will be asked to show it.
• During the meeting you will be asked to mute your microphone unless the meeting chair allows you to speak. This will mean that there will be no background sound to interfer with the meeting's proceedings

To join by phone (audio only)

1. Dial this number: 7018 2005
2. When prompted by the phone, enter this Meeting ID number 812 9418 8962, followed by #

There is no need to enter a participant ID. Just enter #

• 

Collingwood Children's Farm Apiary

The Collingwood Children’s Farm apiary is now open for beekeeper assistance and practical activity on the second and fourth Sundays of the month. Members of the public will be accepted back for apiary aexperiences in the near future.