VDBKA. 2. Honey from several beekeepers was on sale. Those members who were helping man the stall could sell their honey.
The Beekeeper deserves to earn some pennies for his/her travails. This blog focuses on one particular outlet for the producer, namely the Uffington White Horse Show which occurs annually. This year the event took place Sunday/Monday 26/27 August 2012 and was well attended despite the weather. I helped to man the Vale and Downland Beekeepers Association’s Stall.
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- Intro. Despite the heavy rain, the Show provide a successful outlet for local producers. The attractions the Show offers kept the visitors coming.
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- Intro. The Show organisers provided marquees and tables for those wishing to show and/or sell goods.
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- VDBKA. 1. The Vale and Downland Beekeepers Association set-up their stall in one of the marquees. They were selling bee related produces and provided information of bees and beekeeping.
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- VDBKA. 2. The Beekeeper’s provided there members the opportunity to sell honey at the stall. There was honey from several beekeepers was on sale which gave the public a real sense of choice.
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- VDBKA. 3. In addition honey, other products were available for sale. These included beeswax, beeswax polish, cosmetic cremes, honey soap and honey fudge. All sold well.
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- VDBKA. 4. Providing education and entertainment about bees and beekeeping was an important element of attracting people to the stall. People then could relate to the products on sale as something which were authentically local, handmade and of quality.
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- VDBKA. 5. The Beekeepers stall did provide an area of education about bees and beekeeper. In contrast, the Poultry Keepers did not provide any education facilities and so did not capitalise on the initial interest of passing visitors.
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- Attractions. 1. Historic re-enactments were popular. Although the rain meant they had to be extra heroic!
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- Attractions. 2. Animals were popular. The animals on display ranged from farm animals, to semi-wild native species to exotic animals such as snakes.
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- Attractions. 3. Keeping poultry is a growing interest in England and this stall had a vast range of chickens (including cockerels) and some ducks. I made some useful local contacts.
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- Attractions. 4. This lady keeps sheep and she spins by hand as a hobby. However, she does get the bulk of her wool commercially spun in Yorkshire. She was selling blankets and pictures. She explained there is a vast range of wool and so of which is very course and used only for carpets!
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- Attractions. 5. As to be expected there was a funfair!
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- Attractions. 6. My favourite is the steam engines. This is a one quarter scale model of a traction engine. The man built it himself using scale-drawing and it took him three years to build.
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- Attractions. 7. The Red Arrows Air Display had top billing. They were mentioned in all the signs leading to the show. The Red Arrows are the RAF’s elite display team and they drew the crowds!
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- Attractions. 8. Red Arrows!
I love the bottles shaped like skeps. I wish we had something like that in the States.
Here is where you can get them:
http://www.thorne.co.uk/packaging-and-hive-products/containers/plastic-honey-containers?product_id=4889
They are called ‘Skep Honey Container 10′ and they are £8.50. I am not sure whether Thornes do international delivery. You can contact Thornes on the link below:
http://www.thorne.co.uk/index.php?route=information/contact
I think they come in packs of 10 – worth checking with Thornes.