Minutes for Tuesday, March 12/2013
Meeting held in Kinsmen Pavilion at Richmond Nature Park, 7:30 PM

There were 62 people (including 4 ‘new bees’) present.
The president, Brian Campbell, welcomed everyone and called the meeting to order at 7:35 pm

• Motion made by Kelly McNeil to accept the February minutes. Motion seconded by Jeff Lee.
• 4 “newbees”  were introduced and each gave their connection and interest in bee keeping.
• Jeff Lee will be attending the BC Honey Producers Association conference in Kamloops on March 15.
  • Jeff would like to hear any comments that members have so he can bring them to the meeting,  His general feeling is that losses have been high this year so he asked members to confirm this with him at the break.
  • Jeff will give a full report from the semi annual meeting at our April club meeting
• Iotron Order
  • Darlene Greco is coordinating the Iotron order for the Club.
  • Order will be processed on Friday morning
  • The cost is $6.00 per box, this includes the GST/PST
  • All monies to be paid directly to Darlene, if not paid in advance it will not go into the system
  • Orders must have your name and RBA clearly visible
  • Iotron will give you a number for pickup on Friday afternoon
• Volunteer is required to take over coffee organization
  • Many thanks to Sharon and Ric who have been organizing coffee and snacks for the last year
  • We are looking for someone  to come forward to take over this responsibility.  It involves keeping the coffee/tea supplies current and setting up the coffee/tea to be ready for break at each meeting
• Brian introduced Chelsea and Connie.  They are both students from UBC, who are working on bee  related research at the Terra Nova Sharing Farm.
• Lee Wood was contacted by Eric Hamber highschool to have someone come in and demo a hive and talk to the students about bee keeping.  The date is in May, please contact Brian or Lee directly if you live in the vicinity and are interested.
• Bob Fisher spoke about contracting hives for pollination.  The large number of hives coming in from Alberta has dropped off so the present price is up to $100 per hive.  Many blueberry growers are looking for hives.  Even hobbyists might want to consider this as a means to augment income.
• After coffee break  we had a uniquely interesting and entertaining presentation by Andrew Burkinshaw.
  • Andrew worked on agricultural development in the HinduKush  and taught beekeeping in Nepal
  • He completed his Master degree on a ‘Cost/Benefit analysis of pollinators in the Hindu Kush’
  • Bee Hives in the area tended to be a symbiotic relationship between  numerous different insects including scorpion like insects that helped with pest management
  • His presentation included excellent photographs and many entertaining anecdotal stories relating to his research and his experiences while working there.
• The next meeting will be on Tuesday April 9^th at 7:30 pm.