Hi'lan' Coo.

Well, happy April Fools’ Day Everybody; even though the year barely seems to have started, it is now a quarter of the way through.
 
Today could have been the start of a new era, but then, only time will tell. For several years, a vociferous minority of the beekeeping community has been grumbling in the background that we should not be importing honey bees, arguing that the native British bees have evolved over thousands of years to suit our climate, whilst others say that we need more prolific bees, more productive bees and bees with a more moderate temper – traits that can only be achieved by importing the Italian, Spanish or Caucasian sub-species (allegedly). Brother Adam, the Buckfast Abbey bee breeder has a lot to answer for.
 
Today, seventy four bee keepers, mostly from around Scotland but including a few from England and Wales, met at the Lovet Hotel in Perth to discuss plans and strategies to promote the British black bee through advertising its virtues and to set up a breeding programme to provide local black bees to replenish stocks lost through bad weather and also to supply bees to novice bee keepers, thus undermining the trade in foreign bees. Another 27 people who were unable to attend sent their best wishes and their first year’s membership fee. Three months ago, all this was just a pipe dream when a couple of people put up £1,500 of their own money to book today’s venue; they had no idea if anybody would turn up, but today, there were signs that their dream will come true.
 
It was appropriate that we should have been confronted by this mural of a hi’lan’ coo on entering the Lovet Hotel. Apis was the bull sacred to the ancient Egyptians out of whose body issued swarms of bees. There were some strange beliefs in those days.