Lecturers

Beekeeping Lecturers

The following list of lecturers and demonstrators is intended to help event organisers plan their programme. All of them support the aims of BIBBA, but BIBBA are unable to verify their knowledge, ability or suitability to your requirements. Please make arrangements directly with the speaker.

Roger Patterson

Roger Lives in West Sussex and will travel any distance.

Tel No…  01403 790 637  Mobile…  07976 306 492 Email…  

About Roger Patterson

He started keeping bees in 1963, soon after the hard 1962/3 winter, and at one stage kept 130 colonies. He is a practical beekeeper, concentrating on the basics and keeping things simple. He has always been heavily involved with his local and county BKA’s and manages his local BKA apiary, where there are usually a large number of colonies for instruction as well as a queen rearing section. He has been a demonstrator since the early 1970s and believes beekeeping should be fun.

For business reasons Roger had a break of about 15 years without bees of his own, but kept involved with his local BKA. On his return to active beekeeping he noticed a problem with queen performance which he has highlighted and written about in the bee press.

Roger lectures and demonstrates widely on practical beekeeping and is often accompanied by his dog Nell. Please email for a list of lectures.

He is currently a BBKA Trustee, BDI Vice President and BIBBA Committee Member, as well as his involvement with his local BKA.

Roger designed his local BKA website www.wgbka.org.uk and owns and maintains Dave Cushman’s Website www.dave-cushman.net

Jo Widdicombe

Jo lives in Cornwall but is prepared to travel if allowance is made for time and distance.

Tel No…   01752 822 335   Email… 

About Jo Widdicombe

Member of BIBBA for approximately 25 years.
Bee farmer running 120+ colonies, using mainly near-native bees.
Author of book, ‘The Principles of Bee Improvement’.
Can talk on any aspect of bee improvement and why I favour the native bee.

Micheál C. Mac Giolla Coda

Micheál lives in Burncourt, Tipperary and is prepared to travel up to 60 miles.

Tel No… 00 353 (0) 52 7467205
Email…  

About Micheál C. Mac Giolla Coda

Beekeeping for 50 years. Queen rearing for 20 years. FIBKA certified lecturer for 20 years. Honey Judge for 20 years. Holder of National Diploma in Science (Apiculture).

Founder member of Galtee Bee Breeding Group. Past President of BIBBA and FIBKA.

Preferred choice of subject: Conservation and Improvement of native bees including all aspects of queen rearing.

Practical Demonstrations: Considerable experience in giving practical demonstrations on colony evaluation, selection for breeding and methods of queen rearing. Also morphometry and preparation of honey for show.

Geoff Critchley

Geoff lives in Flintshire and is prepared to travel.

Tel No… 01352 740 991
Mobile… 07885 475 371
Email…  

About Geoff Critchley

I’ve been keeping bees nearly 30 years and currently run 20 hives.

I am a Master Beekeeper, and an examiner for the BBKA, setting and marking module exams on 4 occasions. I am an examiner for the practical assessment and the General Husbandry. I run courses for beginners and for queen rearing.

I worked for 3 years as a seasonal bee inspector in NE Wales.

I give lectures on most topics of practical beekeeping, and was a speaker at the BIBBA 2014 conference at LLangollen. Talks include:

Queen Rearing
Making Increase
Spring Management
From Cappings to Candles – how to process beeswax and turn it into beeswax products
Cut it Out – what to do with queen cells.
30 years of Beekeeping Mistakes

Trisha Marlow

Trisha lives near Montgomery in the Welsh Marches and is prepared to travel.

Tel… 07812 518822
Email…

Trisha keeps around 40 colonies of locally-adapted bees on six apiaries in the Welsh Marches, breeding her own queens selectively. Some apiaries are close to ling heather, others to OSR, thus minimising the stress to man and bees of moving hives while giving a selection of honeys. With her partner Paul, Camlad Apiaries is run as a small, sustainable business supplying health food shops, delicatessens, village shops, and the most northerly castle in the UK.

Trisha is a BBKA Master Beekeeper, Project Manager with Bees Abroad (UK NGO), trustee of BIBBA, county Bee Recorder for Montgomeryshire, and member of both Shropshire Beekeeping Association and the Welsh Beekeepers Association.

A firm advocate of accessible continuing education and capacity building for all beekeepers, Trisha runs the BBKA Facebook group with a membership of 4300 and gives time and assistance with social media for other beekeeping charities. She is also the only beekeeper who is a Basic assessor for both the BBKA and the WBKA, and the BBKA Basic Assessment in Modern African Beekeeping and an active member of the WBKA Learning and Development committee.

Trisha finds her MSc in sustainable architecture and renewables and passion for photography both highly relevant to her NGO work mainly in Ghana at this time.

Can talk effectively on a wide variety of beekeeping topics and has lectured at BIBBA Conference and the National Honey Show. Please email with your requirements.

Guidelines For Engaging Lecturers

  • Good Lecturers get booked up well in advance. Make contact as far in advance as possible.
  • Confirm booking in writing or by email.
  • Have a back up in case there are last minute problems. Even a hastily arranged question and answer session would be suitable.
  • Make sure your event is financially viable. Don’t expect the Lecturer to reduce their fees because you have got your sums wrong.
  • Agree the fee and travelling expenses and make sure the Lecturer is paid at the event.
  • If the Lecturer has travelled some distance they would probably appreciate an evening meal.
  • Overnight accommodation may be required. This could be with a beekeeper. Remember the Lecturer may have a partner.
  • Make sure the title and content of the lecture is suitable for your event, and the Lecturer is told the number, ability and knowledge of the expected audience.
  • Agree requirements and who will provide them – laptop, projector, screen, etc.
  • Make contact a week or so before the event and give clear directions and/or a map with a postcode if requested.
  • Give the Lecturer one or more mobile numbers in case of emergencies. Take the Lecturer’s mobile number to the event.
  • As the Lecturer may have equipment, leave a convenient parking space.
  • Treat your Lecturer well by meeting them and making sure they are comfortable. They may need a glass of water. Make sure there is a good Chairman who is lively, doesn’t make a lengthy introduction and is able to shield the speaker from questions that may be asked to embarrass the Lecturer, or to make a point about something that has nothing to do with the lecture.
  • Thank the Lecturer after the event.