CALL FOR CORNISH BEE-KEEPERS TO COMPETE FOR FORGOTTEN TROPHY

Sweet success and a lonely, unclaimed top trophy await Cornish honey-makers and beekeepers at this year’s Royal Bath & West Show.

The gauntlet has been thrown down to them to enter the Show’s Bees and Honey competitions and compete for the prestigious “Cornwall Bee Keepers Association Challenge Cup.”

The beautiful silver rosebowl, first awarded in 1949, has remained on the Bath & West Showground’s shelves – unwanted and unwon - for as many years as show organisers can remember.

It used to be vigorously competed for in the years when the Royal Bath & West Show moved to a different venue around the country each year – Plymouth, Truro, and Falmouth were regular ports of call. It made its final excursion to Cornwall in 1955 when it was held in Launceston.

But since the Show moved to its permanent home at the Bath & West Showground in 1965 the number of exhibitors and visitors making the grand trek up from Cornwall has tailed off.

Now keen beekeeper Mrs Gillian Searle, editor of the Cornwall Beekeepers Association’s monthly magazine, has issued the challenge to her 200 strong membership, urging them to enter this year’s bees and honey classes at the Show and compete for the trophy that is rightfully theirs.

“No-one has won this trophy for as long as I can remember,” said Mrs Searle, who lives in Bodmin. “I know people might feel it is now a long way to travel up to the Show from Cornwall but I think it is a tragic shame that no-one from Cornwall competes for this beautiful trophy anymore.”

Mrs Searle hopes her appeal will jar Cornish people’s memories and get them buzzing up the A30 with their entries for this year’s Show which takes place at the Bath & West Showground, Shepton Mallet, Somerset, from May 30th to June 2nd.

The Cornwall Bee Keepers Association Challenge Cup is awarded to the resident member of the Cornwall Bee-Keepers’ Association who notches up the most points  in classes for light, medium, dark and set honey.

It is just one of hundreds of trophies and prizes competed for each year at the show which attracts over 10,000 entries from all over the country for classes ranging from art and alpacas, to shoeing and steam engines.

Fun for all the family is promised at the south west’s biggest and best agricultural show, sponsored by EDF Energy, with action and entertainment galore and over 1,000 tradestands and 2,000 of the country’s finest livestock expected on parade.

Full details of all the competitions can be obtained from the Bath & West Showground on 01749 822200 or visit the website on www.bathandwest.com  where closing dates can be found and where entry forms and schedules can be down-loaded.

And for all those eager Cornish beekeepers spurred on by Mrs Searle’s challenge, and beekeepers everywhere – a gentle reminder that the closing date for bees and honey entries is April 3rd.