HONEY FESTIVAL 21st September 2024
Biggest and best yet!
Biggest and Best Honey Festival Yet!
It is hard to believe the Ashford & District Beekeepers’ Association could beat the success of previous years. But under cloudy, dry skies, Ashford came to a halt on Saturday, with visitors swarming from all parts of the community to join in the celebration of the honey harvest.
Speaking at the event, Chair of the Festival, Carole Anne Vermeulen said “More than 1300 jars of honey were sold, 1500 art and poetry entrants from 16 schools graced the walls of the Heritage Centre and I guess there were at least 4,000 visitors so I think we really have reached the summit of success with the festival this year. It is so wonderful to be part of a community event which celebrates all things bees and honey, to see families coming along for a couple of hours, enjoying the stalls, the refreshments and the music. Most of all, it is heartening to see such engagement from the children and adults alike, who delight in viewing the bee observation hives, chatting away to the beekeepers, taking it all in.
We are truly grateful to the teachers in the schools around Wicklow who encourage and support the children to enter the Art and Poetry competition and to our sponsors, stall holders , Heritage Centre and Parish. Of course none of this would be possible without the enormous planning and work by our member volunteers, all of them beekeepers. It is clear that these beekeepers apply the same principle to their hard work as the bees in their colonies, all working in unison for the collective!”
Guest speaker at the Festival, Dr Abigail Ruth Freeman, Director of Science for Society, spoke of environmental and natural world topics, and new research into bees and pollinators.
Prizes were awarded for the Art and Poetry entrants, the raffle tickets pulled, before the Festival wound down at 4.00 p.m.
Thank you to our stallholders whose wonderful products enhance the Festival year after year.
We are forever grateful for the wonderful support from our sponsors and to all the local businesses who donate gifts for our monster raffle. Thank you, it would not be possible without you.
