Meetings & Events

🗓️ Saturday 31st January 2026
🕐 11:00 – 13:00
📍 Dame Elizabeth Hall, Firbank Close, Bournville, Birmingham B30 1UA
🎤 Jack Silberrad (BSc Hons Ind. Dip. Bee Farming)

Following an incredibly busy 2025, Jack Silberrad, our Western regional bee inspector, is once again returning to Birmingham to delight us with a very special Saturday morning lecture at Dame Elizabeth Hall. The lecture will be a tour of various exotic pests that effect bees, a quick tour of hive diseases, the recommended way to inspect a hive, the current YLAH situation and a brief look at the work that underpins the “Healthy  Bees Plan 2030”.

🗓️ Friday 20th March 2026
🕐 7 pm
📍 Millenium Balti, 796 Alcester Road, Kings Heath B14 5EZ

Come and enjoy some delicious, hand-crafted and lovingly prepared food by Syed and his team in the company of your friends.

🗓️ Friday 27th March 2026
🕐 7:30 pm – 9 pm
📍 Dame Elizabeth Hall, Firbank Close, Bournville, Birmingham B30 1UA
🎤 Richard Arghiris – The ancient craft of Mayan beekeeping

Deep within the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico,  Mayans have been keeping native, stingless bees for over 3000 years, the most popular bred by the  Meliponini tribe. The honey produced is highly coveted for its medicinal properties.

In 2023, Richard undertook a master’s in ethnobiology to learn more about Mayan meliponiculture. His talk will draw on data gleaned in the field, including in-depth, ethnographic interviews with Mayan beekeepers.

Richard will cover the following topics:

  • The bio-geography of stingless bees in Latin America
  • The pre-Columbian history of Mayan meliponiculture
  • The contemporary decline and revival of stingless beekeeping
  • The role of traditional Mayan culture and spirituality
  • Conservation practices and bee rescue groups
  • Products of the Melipona hive, and
  • Threats and challenges that modern Mayan beekeepers face.

NB:  Visitor numbers at Highbury Apiary are currently restriced to members only.  If you have any questions about visiting please call the Apiary Manager (see Contacts page.)

Summer Meetings are held at our Apiary in Highbury Park.  Association and members’ hives undergo inspection by that well known pest of the bee, the beekeeper.

2.00pm every Saturday between June and August.
See the Highbury Apiary page for further information.

Winter meetings (September to March) are lively and educational with a mixture of lectures and talks covering the basics for new beekeepers and other topics.  Non-members and visitors are very welcome to attend.  I promise we are a very friendly and welcoming bunch.  Tea and biscuits to follow, sometimes there may be cake.

Winter Meetings … members will be informed of meeting dates and topics/speakers via email

Meetings usually commence at 7.30pm.