Read on to find out why I have posted a picture of a handsome silver cup!
After the great experience of the County Honey show last year, when I found out that the local beekeepers were going to have a gazebo at the local country show, I had to take part.
The number of classes was minimised but all of us were encouraged to enter as many classes as possible.
1. Clear Honey
2. Creamed Honey
3. Set Honey
4. Honey Fruit Cake
5. A pair of candles
Luckily, the bees produced clear honey as well as set honey this year but we don't process our honey to produce a creamy set, so that limited me to two honey classes. Notwithstanding my poor attempt to win acclaim at the County Honey Show with my honey sponge last year, I decided to attempt the Honey Fruit Cake. I have been developing my efforts to melt down wax but I haven't progressed to candle making yet; maybe I'll try that next year.
Knowing some of my fellow beekeepers, I was in no doubt that I would have to put effort in to have any chance of a prize. Sally sent me guidance on how to prepare honey for showing from an old beekeeping magazine- 3 pages of closely typed instructions! Given that the honey was already in jars, all I could do was select nice examples and polish the outsides of the jars, then pack it so there were no finger prints to be seen.
As usual, I practised making the cake and as last year, this involved buying 2 new cake tins because I didn't have any the right size and the recipe said, make two cakes, enter the best one in the show and eat the other. My first attempt was pretty good and the cakes were quickly eaten. The second attempt, which included the cake I took to work for my colleagues to judge, produced crumbly cakes with a bit of a depression in the centre. As you can see, my final cake also sank a little in the centre.
The gazebo was nearby and included an observation hive, a model bee hive, lots of books and photographs and a table for children to have a go at making candles from coloured wax foundation.
P and I had guests for the weekend and they enjoyed their afternoon at the show, especially the dog show, while I was volunteering in the gazebo and P played cricket several miles away (!)
As soon as I arrived, Sally asked if I could come back the following day to collect my trophy. It transpired that both jars of honey had been awarded 2nd place in their respective classes and two 2nds trump a 1st, so I had won the trophy for the beginner with the most points at the show.
It was only later that I discovered that the clear honey (Lot No 5 if you read the previous blog) was 2nd in the beginner's class and the set honey (Lot No 3) was 2nd in the grown up beekeepers' class!
I am very proud of my bees!
If you are wondering why there's no photograph of me being awarded the trophy at the awards ceremony, it's because on the second day of the show, P and I, along with Kim and Tim and about 30 friends were on our annual 20 mile bike ride. We never know the route until the day itself but we were riding through the village where the show was taking place so Kim, Tim, P and I diverted off the ride to try to pick up the trophy. This was not allowed! This meant I had to cycle home as fast as possible in order to jump in the car and drive back in time for the awards ceremony. This was not without some risk as I had a blow out on the back tyre earlier in the day. Fortunately, my cup was the penultimate one to be awarded. I did have time to brush my hair but I was still wearing my cycling gear and I had been wearing a cycling helmet all day. I haven't attempted to get a copy of the official photograph!
