The 'Bee Times' was originally the creation of William Dodd who came
from a farming family at Ousby. He started it the late 1950s as a
means of keeping members of the Branches of the Cumberland and
Westmorland Beekeepers Association informed about beekeeping events, and
as a source of advice on beekeeping matters. William Dodd was one of
the people who revived the Association after the Second World War and
served it as Secretary, President and Past-President until his death.
William Dodd produced about four or five issues of the Bee Times every
year, on an old ink duplicating machine from typed stencils; the copies
were distributed by hand to all the members of the Association by the
Branch Secretaries. He wrote 100 editions of the Bee Times over a period
of many years and then decided, sometime in the late 1970s that it was
time for someone else to take over.
John Skinner then agreed to edit and issue the Bee Times, using a
computer and printer to produce the copies for distribution; he produced
another 100 issues of the newsletter over the next twenty years. David
Bates, at that time Secretary of the Penrith Branch became the next
editor until the responsibility was taken over by Val Sullivan, the
present editor and Chairman of the Cumbria BKA.
The current editor is Ian Gregory who is always looking for articles and
content.
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