UK National Honey Show – History, Traditions & Global Impact (344)

344 - UK National Honey Show – History, Traditions & Global Impact

Becky Barajas: This is Becky Barajas from Texas, saying you're listening to the Beekeeping Today Podcast.

[music]

Jeff Ott: Welcome to Beekeeping Today Podcast presented by Betterbee, your source for beekeeping news, information, and entertainment. I'm Jeff Ott.

Becky Masterman: I'm Becky Masterman.

[00:00:16] Global Patties: Today's episode is brought to you by the bee nutrition superheroes at Global Patties. Family-operated and buzzing with passion, Global Patties crafts protein-packed patties that'll turn your hives into powerhouse production. Picture this, strong colonies, booming brood, and honey flowing like a sweet river. It's super protein for your bees and they love it. Check out their buffet of patties, tailor-made for your bees in your specific area. Head over to www.globalpatties.com and give your bees the nutrition they deserve.

Jeff: Hey, a quick shout out to Betterbee and all of our sponsors whose support allows us to bring you this podcast each week without resorting to a fee-based subscription. We don't want that and we know you don't either. Be sure to check out all of our content on the website.

There, you can read up on all of our guests, read our blog on the various aspects and observations about beekeeping, search for, download, and listen to over 300 past episodes, read episode transcripts, leave comments and feedback on each episode, and check on podcast specials from our sponsors. You can find it all at www.beekeepingtoday.com. Thank you, Becky Barajas, from Texas for that wonderful opening from the floor of the North American Honey Bee Expo.

Becky Masterman: How are we doing? Do we need more openers? Are there any states we need?

Jeff: Folks, go out to that listener opener map on our website, and you'll see most of the western states, we need representation. We need Texas and Nevada, Idaho. There's a couple of those smaller states on the East Coast we need. There's a lot of orange, there's a lot of good fills, but we could use a few more.

Becky Masterman: We've got work to do. Definitely have work to do.

Jeff: How are the bees doing this summer, Becky?

Becky Masterman: Oh, they're doing well. They're bringing in a lot of food. I'm out of space.

Jeff: [chuckles]

Becky Masterman: It's a little daunting. It happened last year. It's happening again. I'm doing day by day and collecting honey, extracting honey, collecting honey, harvesting, extracting. My dining room's gathering the bucket horde. I'm not complaining. I cannot complain because we have such a fantastic nectar flow, but I try to give my bees something to do. I gave them so many frames to draw out foundation. Because I do deep supers, I rotate that into the brood nest next year. I'm extracting late into the night, let's just say that, and then harvesting early in the morning.

[laughter]

Jeff: That's what it really sounds like. When do you sleep?

Becky Masterman: Luckily, I don't need a lot of sleep.

Jeff: [laughs]

Becky Masterman: I'm genetically wired to not need a lot of sleep. Some would say robotic, but that's okay. [chuckles]

Jeff: With all that honey that you are gathering and collecting, you'd be ready for the fall honey shows. Are you going to enter any?

Becky Masterman: I'm not. Honey shows are a big deal. We talked to Stephanie Slater about it. You need to be organized. Remember, you need to be picking out your jars so they don't have defects. I never knew jars had defects. You have to be really on your game. I don't think I'm there yet. How about you?

Jeff: Jars and lids and everything. I'm not planning on entering any shows this year, but our guest today, he is in charge of the biggest show in the UK, the National Honey Show. That's every fall.

Becky Masterman: That's a big deal that they are world-renowned for their honey shows.

Jeff: It looks spectacular. I'm looking forward to talking to him, finding out how he manages and pulls together that show. It's been around for, I think, over 100 years. It's really amazing. Bob Mauer will be joining us in just a few minutes. Maybe he can get us ready for the fall honey shows. I might get inspired and enter one.

Becky Masterman: I'm looking for some tips and tricks. I'm not ready yet, but I'm gathering them, and I'm trying to figure out how someday, maybe, I can achieve that goal.

Jeff: Bob's out in the green room right now. Let's let him in. We'll be right back after these words from our sponsors.

[music]

Betterbee: Looking to raise your own queens your way? Betterbees got you covered with everything you need. Grafting and marking tools, queen cages, mating nuc boxes, the works. It's all high-quality gear to help you raise strong, productive queens, and keep your genetics local and well adapted to your region. Now, if all that sounds a little bewildering, no worries. You can skip the setup and fast-track your hive with Betterbees' locally raised, mated Northern Queens. Heads up, inventory is limited, so call 1-800-632-3379 to reserve yours today. They ship overnight, Monday through Thursday. Whatever your Queen plans are this season, visit Betterbee.com, or give them a buzz at 1-800-632-3379.

[music]

Dalan Animal Health: It's been a tough year for bees. Colony losses are averaging 62%, making disease prevention more important than ever. That's why we're excited to share a game-changing solution from Dalan Animal Health, now available through retailers across the US and Canada. Dalan has developed the industry's first-ever vaccinated queens, designed to protect your hives against brood disease. In the field, these queens have helped reduce deformed wing virus by up to 90%.

By introducing young vaccinated queens each year, you're giving your bees a stronger immune system and broad protection against both viral and bacterial threats. Join the 30,000 hives already benefiting from vaccinated queens. Protect your colonies this spring. Find a retailer at dalananimalhealth.com and get started today.

Jeff: Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the show. Sitting around this great big virtual Beekeeping TodayPodcast table spanning across the Atlantic Ocean, we have chairman of the National Honey Show, Bob Mauer, sitting somewhere in the UK.

Becky Masterman: [laughs]

Jeff: Bob, welcome to the show.

Becky Masterman: Wait, is it an undisclosed location? [laughs]

Bob Mauer: Yes, thank you first of all for having me. It's great to see you both, Jeff and Becky. I'm actually in a little town called Reigate, which is 30 miles south of London, so halfway between London and the south coast.

Becky Masterman: Nice. Welcome to the show, Bob. I thought maybe that this was top secret, we couldn't disclose your location.

Jeff: [laughs]

Bob Mauer: We have some issues with that sometimes because we do a lot of filming at our apiary, because, although I say so myself, it's one of the best in the country.

Jeff: [chuckles] We ask the TV companies not to identify, for obvious reasons, exactly where it is. The last one we did, instead of just ignoring it, they said, "Ah, filming from a secret location." It makes you sound like,-

[laughter]

Bob: -I don't know, James Bond.

Jeff: [laughs]

Becky Masterman: A little bit, which is fun. We can call you the James Bond of the Honey Show.

[laughter]

Bob: I wish.

Jeff: The James Bond of beekeeping. There you go. Bob, we invited you here to the podcast to talk to us about the UK National Honey Show. Before we get too far into that, why don't you tell our listeners who you are, and just a little bit about yourself and how you got interested in bees, and then we'll dive into the National Honey Show.

Bob: Sure. I have no family history of beekeeping. It's just something that always interested me, these strange people in funny clothes, puffing smoke into boxes, and how does it all work? Many years ago, I found a tiny little book on beekeeping, and it just sparked an interest. I didn't realize there were books on beekeeping. Now I have a mutual friend, as you do, in Jerry Burbidge of Northern Bee Books. My bookcases are groaning with bee books.

[laughter]

Bob: That's now. Back in the day, the book made me look out our local beekeeping association, which is Reigate Beekeepers, as it happens. I did a winter course and went along to their apiary in the spring, and, like most of us do, got absolutely hooked on watching bees and not really looked back. What I didn't realize was how the tentacles of volunteering reach out.

[laughter]

Bob: Our chairman put his hand on my shoulder, and said, "You could look after an observation hive at our shows." "Okay, I can do that." Then he said, "You could be on the committee, couldn't you?" It wasn't so long before they were saying, "We need a new chairman." "Okay, right." I'm a chairman of Reigate.

Jeff: [laughs]

Bob: I did that for about five years. Then I got kicked upstairs, and I'm now chairman of Surrey Beekeepers Association. Reigate is one of eight beekeeping associations in Surrey. All together, we formed one group called Surrey Beekeepers, which is a registered charity. We've got over 1,000 members, so it's quite a significant operation. I've been chairing that now for a very large number of years. I also did a stint 15 years as director of Bee Craft Magazine, which is one of this country's most respected bee publications. Nine of those years, I was chairman of it. I've just recently resigned from that because I was just so busy. Something has to give. It was that.

Always in the background has been the National Honey Show because, like everybody, you start off doing the little simple jobs like, I don't know, checking tickets on the door or whatever may need to be done. I got asked to put on a sorry display there for beginner beekeepers. Then it was the old, old story. The committee came along, and said, "You should join the committee," and I said, "Okay."

Jeff: [laughs]

Bob: It wasn't so long before I became chairman of that. Here I am. It's an amazing show, and it's a great honor to be chairman of it. I'll tell you more later. It's 102 years old this year. There have only ever been seven chairmen, including me.

Jeff: Oh, wow.

Becky Masterman: Wow.

Bob: I'm hoping it's a recipe for longevity.

[laughter]

Bob: Let's see. I think that's me.

Jeff: You certainly lead a very busy life in volunteering and working for these organizations. I might offer there's three words you might want to learn, is no, thank you.

Becky Masterman: [laughs]

Jeff: You might find you have more time, though. No, I'm just teasing. It's very impressive.

Becky Masterman: Jeff, that's not what the industry needs right now. We need yes, yes, yes.

Jeff: No. We need very knowledgeable people.

Bob: You have taken the words out of my wife's mouth.

[laughter]

Jeff: I'm sorry. You are following in some big footsteps then, guiding the show from the last 102 years to now. There's quite a tradition there that you have to maintain and to respect.

Bob: There's an enormous amount of tradition, and it's become a family. Let me give you the 50-cent snapshot, and then we'll go into the proper $10 tour, and I can give you a better oversight of what we're doing. What are we as the National Honey Show? We are the largest honey show and beekeeping convention in the world. We invite the very best speakers from all over the world to come to lecture with us. We have a series of practical workshops where people can get their hands dirty and do things. We have a very large trade hall with over 50 stands where people can buy all their beekeeping needs and more. That's us in a nutshell.

If we were to go back over that and have a look at these things in more detail, let me just perhaps start with the history. As I said, we are 102 years old. The show started in 1923 in a building called the Crystal Palace. Now, this is an extraordinary building. It was originally built in Hyde Park, which is a big park in the center of London, for the Great Exhibition in 1851. This thing is a glasshouse. Imagine the Empire State building was a glass. It was huge, massive, massive building.

Once the exhibition had finished in London, it was dismantled completely and rebuilt in South London. It was used as an exhibition space until 1936 when, unfortunately, it burnt down, which was a bit of a blow because we'd been there since our first show in 1923. We had all our kit there and it wasn't insured. Fortunately, my predecessors were resourceful people, and they got around that. It does sound as though it was an amazing place to be.

There was one interesting story where they had a firework display at some point in the show. Every year, during the firework display, a jar of honey was stolen off the bench, same place every time. One year, the stewards thought, "We're going to fix this," and they adulterated the jar of honey that was there. It truly was stolen, but it was never stolen again.

[laughter]

Bob: The trustees of the Crystal Palace were very keen to keep us there, and so they donated a magnificent trophy, it's almost feet high, which we still have today, unsurprisingly, called the Crystal Palace Trophy. A few years ago, we took that on-- We have a television program here called the Antiques Roadshow, which does what it says on the tin. People bring their valuables to be seen on the tele. We took it along because it was being filmed at Crystal Palace, so we thought it was rather appropriate, or at least the remains. All that's left there now are the foundations of this once amazing building.

When we'd left Crystal Palace because we had to, we moved around quite a lot. We can't just roll up at a convention center because we need very specific things. We need a huge space for our honey show, we need a huge space for our trade show, we need two lecture theaters, we need at least six rooms for our practical workshops, and then we need good catering, easy parking, easy access. It's not an easy find.

Where we have ended up in the last 10 years is a fantastic location for us. It's at a race course called Sandown Park, which is in Esher, which is, again, about 30 miles south of Central London. It's easy access by train. It's half an hour from the airport, and there's very good access from our motorway system and ample free parking. It's a brilliant space. It's run by an organization called The Jockey Club who own quite a lot of race courses in Britain. They are just a joy to deal with. They couldn't be nicer. They fall over backwards to help us with whatever we need, except when the bill comes in, which is huge,-

[laughter]

Bob: -but that's another story. We've been there ever since. As long as we can afford to stay there, that's where we want to be because it's just provides a fantastic-- Everything is under one roof. Where we've been before, schools and the like, you may have to cross the playground to get from one building to another, which is fine if it's sunny, but if it's raining, it's not so good. We love Sandown Park. That's where we are.

Jeff: It is called the National Honey Show, but you alluded to the fact you also have other beekeeping workshops. Are the workshops for just beekeeping, or preparation of honey and wax and hive products, everything in beekeeping?

Bob: Wide range. The workshops, they are primarily for beekeepers. We're trying, at the moment, to have an initiative to explain to the public that there is enough to come to the show. Even if they don't keep bees, there's a lot for them to see. The primary thrust is to educate beekeepers. Our workshops, they might be scientific, it might be something like making pollen or anatomy slides, talking about pests and diseases, but it could be skep making, is one of our most popular ones.

We have a fantastic skep maker called Chris Park, who is a real character. He's off grid, shall we say. He's a lovely, lovely man.

Jeff: [laughs]

Bob: He's practicing druid. This gives you some idea. He's a storyteller. He's marvelous. You should have him on your podcast since he's fabulous. Also, there'd be things like how to build a hive or mead making. Those are the sort of things that we do, but we actually do hands-on stuff, and so you actually do make some mead.

Jeff: How many attendees do you have at the show?

Bob: At the show, it's very hard to count them in and out because the building leaks like a sieve, but we get about 1,000 people a day, probably a little bit more than that, coming into the show. The workshops, depending on what's going on, will take maybe 10 to 15 people at a time. Our lecture theater, on the other hand, we've had over 400 people in there at once. That's a big deal.

Becky Masterman: Is there a fee to get into the lecture series, and have the 2025 speakers been announced yet?

Bob: Yes and no. Yes, you can get into the lectures free. You have to buy a ticket to get into the show, but once you're in, it's free. There is a tiny charge for some of the workshops because we need to cover the cost of materials. Basically, once you are in, you are in. It's not a lot of money. We like people to join as members of the show. If you're a member, you can come in for all three days, and there's nothing else to pay. That's about $40 US, or you can come in just for the day if you want to, and that's $20. We try very hard to keep the prices affordable so that we're as accessible as possible to everybody.

In terms of speakers, we are about to publish our speakers' program. Our keynote speaker this year, you know very well, it's Humberto Boncristiani. He's coming over to give us a series of talks, which is really nice. We've got several other speakers from Britain talking. We're quite majoring on varroa mites and resistance, and breeding bees that are naturally resistant to them. That's a big deal this year for us. We've got, I think, 13 lectures. It's probably worth saying at this point that we record, we video all our key lectures. They are professionally filmed, professionally edited, and then we put them up on our YouTube channel. We have now an amazing resource on our YouTube channel.

We have over 100 of our lectures there, and with people that you will know well like Tom Sealey and Mike Palmer, and those levels of qualitative people. We are incredibly proud that they have been viewed over three million times. We are under some pressure because it's so expensive to run the show. People say, "Put them behind a paywall." We won't do that because this is our educational outreach. If somebody can get to a computer screen, we don't want to exclude them. We want them to be able to watch what's going on and learn from all these amazing people.

Jeff: We will provide a link in the show notes to the YouTube website so our listeners can look at those.

Bob Mauer: Excellent. That's very kind. They're really interesting. They're quite time-consuming. [chuckles]

[laughter]

Bob: They're 45 minutes to an hour each. There's your winter done.

[laughter]

Becky Masterman: Excellent. Great resource.

Bob Mauer: It is, yes.

Jeff: Let's take this opportunity to take a quick break, and we'll be right back after these words from our sponsors.

[music]

Bee Smart Designs: Summer heat stressing out your bees? Beat the heat with the Bee Smart Universal Insulated Hive System. With 70% more insulation than poly hives, it helps bees regulate their microclimate. Less stress, more honey. You'll get better airflow with the upgraded IPM bottom board, plus the duo insulated setup, an R10 insulated inner cover, and double-wall cool-touch outer cover with passive ventilation.

Designed for year-round performance, cool in summer, warm and winter, it mimics the stable environment of a tree hive. Bee Smart products are ready to use, made in the USA from recycled materials, and require no painting or assembly. Just add boxes and frames and go. Visit beesmartdesigns.com, click where to buy, and order today. Bee Smart Designs, simply better beekeeping equipment.

[music]

StrongMicrobials: Proud support for Beekeeping Today Podcast comes from Strong Microbials based in Milwaukee. Since 2012, they've been helping bees and farmers thrive with probiotics and nutrition that support healthy hives. This season, check out BeeBites, a protein patty with natural ingredients and probiotics to keep your bees going strong. Learn more at strongmicrobials.com. Strong microbials, robust microbes, strong science, clean agriculture.

[music]

Becky Masterman: Welcome back, everybody. Bob, before we get to the details of the show, I have to ask, you're in the UK, are you going to have the great Stephen Martin present, Dr. Martin, about varroa?

Bob Mauer: We are.

Becky Masterman: That's a reason to buy a ticket. That's amazing.

Bob Mauer: Yes. There you go. I think he's just doing one talk for us on Friday of the show, which I should probably say is at the end of October every year. I'll give you all the details at the end. Yes, he is indeed.

Becky Masterman: If you are a beekeeper in the UK, what happens as far as your plan for the show? Are most of the attendees also submitting honey, or do you have a nice mixture?

Bob Mauer: We have a great mixture. Yes. On our show bench, to give you an idea, last year had 2,538 entries on it, I'll talk a bit more about that later, from well over 300 beekeepers. They come from all parts of Britain. We had 25 different countries represented on the show benches last year. There's great interest from the Middle East. South Africa was very enthusiastic last year, and it's bringing back more this year. Quite a few European countries will come in.

It's really grown. It's a truly international show. For 10 years, we had a medal donated by the Ukrainian beekeepers, but of course, sadly, these days, they've got their own troubles to contend with, but we still keep a Ukrainian class going in their honor. Some small thing we can do for them.

Jeff: Judging honey shows is very particular. I am just so curious how people bring their honey and their jars of honey from other countries and travel with them, and get them successfully to the show that they can show at the caliber, at the level that the UK National Honey Show requires.

Bob Mauer: It's a real challenge from overseas. Technically, you are only allowed to bring two kilos, that's about 4.5 pounds of honey, into UK. That is an issue. We keep our arms' length from this because we don't want to get involved with anybody breaking the law, but I think a lot of people load their suitcases, and they seem to get away with it. A lot of people from Europe drive in, so they can do that. Some people even use their embassies' diplomatic bags.

Becky Masterman: Wow. [laughs]

Bob Mauer: We don't get involved with that.

[laughter]

Jeff: That's when you know you have connections.

[laughter]

Becky Masterman: I want to find those people and talk to them. [laughs] That's fascinating.

Bob Mauer: Yes, it is a challenge. It's not just the honey, actually. You may be aware that we are having an issue in Europe with yellow-legged hornets, Asian hornets. We have a big problem. At the moment, we're keeping it under control in UK, but in Jersey and Guernsey in the Channel Islands, they have a big problem. One of the beekeepers there who always comes to the show said, "I'll bring a nest over and you can see what it looks like." We checked that out with our government agencies, and they said, "Sure, bring it over and we'll send the police down, and you'll be in jail before we know."

[laughter]

Bob: That never happens.

Becky Masterman: A picture there is really worth a few nights in jail. [laughs]

Jeff: The emphasis on the UK National Honey Show is on honey. How many different classes of honey do you exhibit or can someone enter?

Bob Mauer: We have 240 different classes, but no one's obviously going to enter that, although I do have people who are entering 90 to 100 classes. That does happen. That's unusual. As I was berating an entrant last year because he'd left a jar of honey behind not knowing what he'd done, he said, "Yes, but I did pick up the other 89."

Becky Masterman: Oh, no.

[laughter]

Bob Mauer: Sorry. We have all the usual suspects, as you can imagine, honey in every different class from the pale honey, dark honey, set honey chunk honey, all those numbers. Then all sorts of different wax classes for candles, rolled, dipped, cast. We have mead classes. We have some really wacky ones. Apart from ordinary mead, we have melomel, pyment, cyser, braggot. You know braggot?

Becky Masterman: You're speaking a different language right now.

Bob Mauer: Braggot is a weird drink.

Becky Masterman: [laughs]

Bob: I think it's the sort of thing druids drink. It's basically mead, but it's got fruits, spices, and the other variants don't have it. Has grains and hops, and it makes a pretty strange drink. We have a class for it, and we have entrants who produce it.

Jeff: Wow.

Becky Masterman: Multiple entrants, Bob? Do you have more than one entry?

Bob Mauer: Not many in the private class, I have to say. Then we have all sorts of other ancillary things that are related. I can think of photography, for example. We have a couple of classes for microscope sites, one for anatomy, and one for pollen. We have all sorts of confectionery, so cakes and biscuits. We have people who are incredibly talented at carving wax into objects, flowers, or what have you. Some of them are so realistic that they'll do a bowl of fruit, and you think you just pick it up and take a bite because it is so realistic. We have one class which is quite amazing. It's just called a decorative class.

When I said we have 2,500 entries, that's not just 2,500 jars of honey, that the decorative class is built on five tiers of glass, like a wedding cake. Stacked on those five levels are all manner of beekeeping things from honey to mead to carved wax to wax candles and all sorts of things. There is no limit to what you can put on. It's just down to the imagination of the person making them. When we had the celebration, if you call it that, or commemoration, I should say, of the end of the First World War a few years ago, somebody did a display where there was a cascade of red poppies all the way down one side of this display. It was quite moving. We have a wide range of classes.

Some of the classes are international, some of the classes are just for honey show members, and some of the classes are an opportunity for people who are perhaps just starting out and are not ready for the big time as it were. They're county classes. There's about six counties in the country that have their own little mini show within the show as it were. Their members can have a crack there. They're up against themselves rather than up against the world, which is nice.

Jeff: You've definitely seen the National Honey Show evolve over the years. What changes have surprised you or inspired you the most?

Bob: The big change has been finding this venue which has allowed us to do much more, which is really great. I think what is continually inspiring is that we have such a fantastic team. I guess about 15 of us work all year round. There isn't a day when I don't do something for the show. I might get Christmas day off if I'm allowed. When we get to show time, that expands to 200 people. These people just are fantastic. They give freely of their time. Nobody's paid anything to do this. There are so many. Becky was saying earlier, ''We want people to say yes.'' These are the people who say yes. We couldn't make it run without them.

They might be specialist people like our back office team who are calculating all the results, or it could be just the guys on the door checking the tickets. It's not an exciting job, but we couldn't work without them. That to me is the really nice thing. I guess also success breeds success. People have seen the fantastic show benches, and they say, ''Oh, I want to be part of that next year.'' We get great people coming along on the strength of what we're doing. For our centenary, for example, in 2023, we always have a guest of honor. For the centenary, we're very honored to have the Princess Royal as our guest of honor. She is the King's sister. This was really quite an honor.

She was absolutely wonderful. Planning a royal visit takes years. I do mean that. I'm not just being flippant. We were given an hour and it was all scripted with her staff. We knew exactly how many minutes we'd be with Fred before we went to George, before we went to whoever. She wasn't having any of that. She just tore it up, and said, ''I'm staying.'' She was with us for about 90 minutes and she talked to everybody, and couldn't have been nicer. It was just a wonderful experience, and just planted a tree for us as well.

Becky Masterman: Bob, how many judges do you need every year for the show?

Bob: That's a really good question. Some of our classes are judged off-site. Things like photography, microscopy that I've already mentioned, we pre-judge those. We have about 15 people doing that. Showtime, we have 25 judges in the building. Each one of those has a dedicated judge's steward, who is the runner, basically. When a judge finishes a class, then the steward will take the results to the back office for it to be processed. These guys are all seriously qualified. It takes a long time to become a honey judge in this country, and it's quite a cherished qualification.

What we do, we have stewards with them. Most of the stewards are aspiring judges. We give them the chance to go with an experienced person so that they can learn. They have a book which they have to fill in, and they have to do so many different shows and judge so many different classes. They have to be pretty good at showing themselves. They have to have first, seconds, and thirds in pretty much all the classes. It's quite a commitment. Our judges are an amazing team. They hit the ground running nine o'clock on Thursday morning of the show. They probably finish, depending on the number of entries, around about early to midafternoon. It's quite intense.

The results, as I say, go back to the back office. Every person from first place to sixth place in every class gets a certificate. That certificate has his or her name printed on it. Imagine the logistics of getting that done, and then you have multiple winners who have won perhaps 10 or 15 different classes, or been placed. Somebody has to collate all those certificates, get them together in an envelope, find out how much prize money they've accumulated, put that in the envelope as well. [chuckles] It's a major logistics exercise.

Jeff: You're heading all of this up, and you have a great team of people, I have to believe, working on the show with you.

Bob: Yes, I do. My job is to keep out of the way and let them get on with it.

Jeff: [laughs]

Bob: I just get to be the front man, which is lovely, come out and talk about the show and introduce our guests. The job I like least is trying to raise the money. I'm supposed to be chief fundraiser, but my goodness, that's hard work.

Jeff: [chuckles]

Becky Masterman: That's where you need the public to get involved.

Bob: Yes.

Becky Masterman: Let the public through the doors and see the great work you're doing.

Bob: That's right. Yes, we do.

Becky Masterman: I've got two questions about winners. One, are there generational winners. It's 100-plus-year history now. Are there some dominant generational players that you know of?

Bob: Yes, there are one or two that are second, third generation beekeepers in shows. They are very successful. Most of them have actually been kicked upstairs and are judges.

[laughter]

Bob: That doesn't stop them entering. Our chief judges' steward has the unenviable task of collating all the judges and then seeing which classes they've entered to to make sure they don't judge them.

Becky Masterman: Judge themselves.

Bob: Yes, that's in effect a game.

Becky Masterman: Is there a dominant name? Maybe it's the same answer. At the Minnesota State Fair for Baking, we know Marjorie Johnson, who I think just hit 100, has been winning blue ribbons for decades and she's the one to beat. Is that the same as those judges?

Bob: It's not quite the same, but we do have a few. If I name some, I'll forget others, and that would be unkind.

Becky Masterman: No, don't name them.

Bob: There are a couple of dominant families who I'm thinking of, one in particular from Ireland. We have a fantastic Irish contingent that comes over every year. The show wouldn't be the same without them. They're absolutely lovely people and we love to have them with us.

Jeff: The National Honey Show must inspire many beekeepers. It must be a symbol for beekeepers throughout the UK and Europe, perhaps, in terms of showing honey and being able to demonstrate your mastery of the craft. Is there anything specific to that that sets the National Honey Show apart from any other honey show? Is there anything that you're doing that really helps beekeepers achieve that?

Bob: I think what we do is we aim to set the gold standard for very best. We will not if there's six entries in a class. We won't give six awards just because there are six entries. Rarely, but sometimes the judges will give no awards, or they won't give a first. Whereas if you were judging at a more local county show, that would be a bit cruel, so we would be much more lenient if we were judging at those sorts of things. For the national, if you've got a prize at the national, you've achieved something, and that's special.

Our judges are very, very strict on their standards, and we try to spread that throughout the country. All of our judges will be judging at other shows around the country. We have here an award which is given at many different shows, the blue ribbon for the best in show. That is a National Honey Show blue ribbon, and entitles the winner to free entrance to the show the next year. That's us reaching out to try and encourage people.

We do find a little bit of reticence in, "Oh, I couldn't possibly show at the national. I'm not good enough." We are constantly saying, "Don't think like that. If you had some success at a local show, you're going to do fine. It's anonymous, so you aren't going to be embarrassed if you don't win, and you're going to be lauded if you do. It's win-win." A few people, once they dip their toe in the water, then there's no stopping them.

Becky Masterman: I have a silly question. Are there rules about talking to the judges at the show? If the judge is walking down the hallway, are attendees allowed to have a conversation?

Bob: We don't encourage that during the judging. We encourage it like mad after the judging because we want people to know-- If they've not done well for some reason, then it's natural a person wants to know why. "What's wrong with my honey? Why don't you like the dead wasp in the middle of the glass jar?"

Becky Masterman: [laughs]

Bob: "What's wrong with that?"

Becky Masterman: Hey, if it's a yellow-legged hornet, maybe that's saying something.

[laughter]

Bob: Yes. The judges are fenced off. The show is fenced off from the public, so you can't go in until all that's over. We do get disputes from time to time. We have a dispute procedure. You can appeal to the chief judges' steward, and then we'll look at that. Occasionally, we judge glasses again. I had it done to me, actually. I was really proser.

Becky Masterman: [chuckles]

Bob: I have the honor of winning the wax bowl on a couple of occasions, which was for a pound block of wax, which is quite a tricky thing to do well. Once you've won the wax bowl at the national, there isn't really anything to do except win it again, which I did. The second year,

Becky Masterman: [laughs]

Bob: -the guy who came second said, "I'm not having this." He appealed to the judge. The judge went back and rejudged the glass, and I still won it.

Jeff: Wow.

Bob: [laughs]

Becky Masterman: Wow

Bob: That was nice.

Jeff: Congratulations on that. Winning twice in one year.

Becky Masterman: Right.

[laughter]

Becky Masterman: That's a little nerve-wracking, though. [laughs]

Bob: Yes. I didn't think it was exactly sporting, but, hey, there we go.

Becky Masterman: [laughs]

Jeff: When is the show this year? Is it too late to enter?

Bob: No, not at all. In fact, I'd encourage everybody to enter. The show is on the 23rd to the 25th of October at Sandown Park, as I mentioned before. We have already published our schedule of classes on our website, which is www.honeyshow.co.uk. That's all there. Not sure if you can actually put entries in yet, but if you can't already, you certainly will be able to very soon. We will be publishing the full program with all our speakers and workshops and the like early in August. Although it's three days open, it's a mixed thing. We take the haul on four days. Wednesday is our set-up day.

What we do is we have a load of equipment, all our tiered staging and things. It takes up a lot of space. We own a garage unit where that lives most of the year. On the Tuesday before the show, we hire a couple of large vans, and we load all the stuff up, and take it to the venue. Then seven o'clock on Wednesday morning, we just hit the venue with a huge team of volunteers who've done it every year forever and they know exactly how it all goes together. By lunchtime, they've built way over 100 yards worth of display racking. Also, we have a parallel team marking out our trade hall so that the traders know where they're going to go when they come in.

By the lunchtime, we're ready to have yet another team of receptionists who take in the entries from all the people. We know what they're going to be bringing in, but for one reason or another, they may not be able to fulfill all the things they thought they would. We check in exactly what they have got, and then they are given to stewards who put the displays out. Now, our showbenches are marked up by the chief steward so that our team of stewards know exactly where every jar of honey goes. The jar has a label on it with its glass number, and the stewards know exactly where that jar goes, not just where the glass is, but where the jar is, which is a huge job to do.

We take all the exhibits in from our exhibitors up until eight o'clock on Wednesday evening. We also have a cup steward who looks after-- because we have over 100 trophies. Our cup steward is responsible for making sure that they're all brought back and we've got them all ready. That's the set up. Then, of course, that has to happen in reverse on Saturday evening, because everything has to be stripped back to a bare room. The stewards do everything in reverse. Our team packs everything away. Actually, it's all in flight cases. It's like a rock band turning up to a concert and everything just wheels in and happens.

[laughter]

Becky Masterman: It sounds like this show is like a beekeeper bucket list item that no matter where you are in the world keeping bees, this would be something to see and experience.

Bob: I think if you can get to UK and you're around at the end of October, definitely worth it. We have it only partially open on a Thursday because we have the judging so that you can't see the showbenches until later in the afternoon. We also don't open our trade hall until lunchtime because our bigger traders come in to set up on the Wednesday because they have a lot of kit and they're going around with tractors and what have you.

Our smaller traders who can set up quickly come in on the Thursday morning because that saves them having an extra hotel night to pay for. It just gives them the opportunity to save a little bit of money. We do that for them. It means that things are partially open on the Thursday. Friday is a great day. Everything's open all day. Saturday is the same. We have an opening ceremony on Wednesday at lunchtime, where we have the great and the good are invited along.

One of our sponsors is a livery company in the City of London called the Wax Chandlers' Company. The master of that company usually comes along and says a few words, and maybe opens the show, and then somebody of a similar stature presents all our prizes on the Saturday at our prizegiving. Incidentally, on Friday, we bring in an engraver. We give him a little room up in an area at the top of the building. He engraves over 100 trophies for us so that when we do the presentations, everybody goes home with a trophy with their name on it. It's a logistics exercise per excellence.

Jeff: Bob, it's been a great honor and pleasure to have you on the show to talk to us and just give us, even our listeners, an introduction to the National Honey Show. Becky, you said it right. It's a bucket list item to get to the National Honey Show some point for all beekeepers just to really see the spectacle.

Bob: We've had a lot of eminent American visitors around. We mentioned Tom Sealey earlier as one. Jamie Ellis has spoken. Randy Oliver, Keith Delaplane. I could go on.

Jeff: Kim Flottum talked a lot about the National Honey Show.

Bob: Let me just say, it was a joy to have Kim. He came several times. We did a live podcast, Kim and I, from the show many years ago with his wife, Cathy, filming just on a mobile phone. Technology, it's amazing, isn't it? The problem with the National is that everybody knows everybody. Everybody knows Kim and quite a few people know me, and so they all come rushing up. We had about four people just off Kathy's camera just grabbing people saying, "No, you can't do that. Don't do that."

[laughter]

Bob: Because it doesn't look as if we're doing anything more than having a chat.

[laughter]

Jeff: Bob, we enjoyed having you on the show. We look forward to hearing more about the National Honey Show and perhaps having you back, let you talk about 2025. That'd be fun.

[music]

Bob: That would be a great honor. Thank you for giving me the chance to tell everybody about our wonderful show.

Becky Masterman: It was absolutely our pleasure. Thank you so much, Bob.

Jeff: Becky, the episodes we've had this year with Stephanie Slater, now Bob Maurer on the honey shows, it really makes me want to enter these honey shows. It's pretty amazing.

Becky Masterman: I love the tradition of it. I think it's so wonderful that people are working so hard to maintain that. I respect anybody who's submitting their honey to a honey show, because even though Bob said it was anonymous, you know you're being judged. It's a big deal.

[laughter]

Jeff: I was looking through the show guide from the National Honey Show, and they do have pretty good instructions on how to prepare your honey. It is in and of itself an art. I have total respect for that and the people who enter their honey into shows at whatever level. Like you said, you're putting yourself out to be judged, and that's nerve-wracking.

Becky Masterman: Will there be an entry from Washington State in the UK Honey Show, the National Honey Show this year?

Jeff: That's a good question. Maybe one of our listeners can answer it, but it won't be from-

Becky Masterman: It won't be.

[laughter]

Jeff: -the Olympia Honey Company. [laughs]

Becky Masterman: I should have asked, do they have a black jar entry,-

Jeff: Oh, yes.

Becky Masterman: -like Stephanie said, where it's just the taste, it's not the wasp in the middle of the bottle?

[laughter]

Jeff: That about wraps it up for this episode. Before we go, I want to encourage our listeners to follow us and rate us five stars on Apple Podcasts, or wherever you download and stream the show. Even better, write a review and let other beekeepers looking for a new podcast know what you like. You can get there directly from our website by clicking on the reviews tab along the top of any webpage.

We want to thank Betterbee and our regular longtime sponsors, Global Patties, Strong Microbials, and Northern Bee Books for their generous support. Finally, and most importantly, we want to thank you, the Beekeeping Today Podcast listener, for joining us on this show. Feel free to leave us questions and comments on our website. We'd love to hear from you. Thanks a lot, everybody.

[00:53:05] [END OF AUDIO]