This term, our Bee Club have had a fantastic time extracting honey from our hives, jarring the honey and melting down the beeswax to make candles, just in time for Christmas.
Award-winning honey
We are pleased to share that his year’s honey won a highly commended award at the Oxfordshire Beekeepers Association Show, which took place last weekend.
Our Bee Club also kindly gifted our award-winning honey to over 140 delegates at the GSA (Girls’ Schools Association) Head’s Conference.
Bee Club is just one of many clubs which promote biodiversity and sustainability in school, such as Biodiversity Club who have planted over 30 trees on the school grounds.
Where can I purchase the honey?
Students can purchase honey, beeswax candles and gift sets in the Crush Hall during lunchtime from Tuesday 28th November 2023. This supports costs related to running our apiary and continuing Bee Club, which has been a staple of student life since the 1940s!
What are the benefits of local honey?
Raw honey has many health benefits because it has not been heat-treated like most commercial honey. The forage the bees have sought this year means that the honey has a different fragrance, taste and consistency than last year.
OHS students enjoy Bee Club (Go Apiary) as they have such a breadth of experience.
They get the opportunity to undertake hive inspections, they love putting on veils, gloves and other protective gear, lighting the smokers and trying to spot the queen. As the season goes by they get more proficient and are soon capably handling frames, checking the health status of each colony and looking out for signs of swarming, disease. They have been extracting honey and making candles from the bees wax, but also helping develop marketing strategies and sales materials for honey and candles sales – which will start from 28th November (whilst stocks last!).
Experienced Beekeepers in the club are hoping to take the BBKA certificate in Beekeeping during the forthcoming Spring/Summer. Mrs Westwood
