Should the SBA membership be growing faster??

[The Drone Ranger]

The magazine is the shop window for SBA but not responsible for low membership numbers
If the SBA was the right package for beekeepers in Scotland they would join
What are the benefits ?
well there's insurance then there's the magazine

For me that's about it

The vast majority of the SBA funds is spent on the Mag

The production costs of the SBA magazine are probably higher than Beecraft per issue

If the poll results are anything to go by then there are either no SBA members on this forum or they don't care

When I suggest to people they might like to join the SBA they just say why??

[Jimbo]

As well as the Insurance and the magazine what about the education, tour speakers, annual conference, annual honey show plus Royal Highland Show and recently the SBA/BIBBA bee breeding course and morphometry day

[Jon]

The thread is getting dangerously near to this.

Maybe the SBA needs to provide wine and aqueducts for the membership

[The Drone Ranger]

As well as the Insurance and the magazine what about the education, tour speakers, annual conference, annual honey show plus Royal Highland Show and recently the SBA/BIBBA bee breeding course and morphometry day

You guys are right I think there isn't a problem at all it's all in my mind
Me and the two people who voted in the poll anyway.

But the SBA can't claim to represent Scottish bee keepers just a small proportion of them

The much vaunted survey of Scottish beekeepers which was printed twice in the Scottish Beekeeper and once in Beecraft took 10% of SBA membership into account.
The membership I think is about 20% of actual beekeepers
So the survey included only 2% of Scottish Beekeepers
I would say statistically unreliable at best
I'll probably be saving the £25 from now on as well

The thread is getting dangerously near to this.

Don't laugh
The Scottish Nationalist won the Election with the same campaign

[gavin]

You guys are right I think there isn't a problem at all it's all in my mind
Me and the two people who voted in the poll anyway.

Indecision stopped me from voting. Until every beekeeper signs up there is possible problem. The organisation just has to make a good job of selling itself and making sure that it is doing the right things. If someone could tell me whether the SBA has a higher or lower proportion of Scottish beekeepers in its membership than equivalent organisations elsewhere then it might be clearer if the SBA is attracting too few members.

But the SBA can't claim to represent Scottish bee keepers just a small proportion of them

The much vaunted survey of Scottish beekeepers which was printed twice in the Scottish Beekeeper and once in Beecraft took 10% of SBA membership into account.

It was carefully designed by professional statisticians and deliberately sought a stratified sample in the best way they could manage. No protocol is perfect of course.

The membership I think is about 20% of actual beekeepers
So the survey included only 2% of Scottish Beekeepers
I would say statistically unreliable at best
I'll probably be saving the £25 from now on as well

Don't laugh
The Scottish Nationalist won the Election with the same campaign

The usual assumption is that about half of beekeepers are members. Do you really think that is so wrong? I just don't know. I do know however that if a political party wins an election so handsomely, and while currently in power, they must be doing something the electorate approve of.

[The Drone Ranger]

Your probably right Gavin I don't think there are many SBA members on here .

What I have discovered is that I treat the SBA more like a magazine subscription with some insurance thrown in.

I'm not much interested in conventions, Guest speakers, meetings etc.

I only joined because I felt it was important for all beekeepers to be part of the national organisation and help support the SBA by at least subscribing.

Over the years I have had my doubts because some of the SBA stances and policies (already mentioned a few) are diametrically opposed to how I feel.

The difficulty is that by remaining a member I am part of the head count.
That gives weight to things like demands for compulsory registration (don't worry, I complained plenty at the time, ask Ian Craig)

The hope always was that things would change and as new members arrived new thinking would also emerge.

I was wrong, and most of the other bee keepers I know were right,the SBA is really just a Social club for beekeepers

The real action is all taking place at local association level.

Regards magazines about beekeeping there are others and the subs are no higher

[gavin]

Hi DL

That is a pity, but the SBA does do a broad range of things and some of them should interest everyone.

Yes, the magazine and the insurance are a big part of the interest in joining. Only a small fraction of the membership go to meetings of one kind or another. The coming centenary convention should be a cracker though - I think that the speakers are still provisional but they are really good quality speakers and one of them is one of the very best researchers internationally.

OK, you may hold different opinions to those the SBA has come out with. Me too. But an engaging communicator like yourself could express them within the organisation and possibly make a difference.

The vote in favour of compulsory registration was a surprise and is now irrelevant. The Scottish Government didn't think that they should go down this line so we now have a Scottish add-on to BeeBase that is collecting up voluntary registrations.

One thing that the SBA does and the local associations don't (and I'm not entirely sure that this is right) is speak to government. Help guide policy on bee health problems. Education. That kind of thing.

If you are not satisfied with what the SBA offers, what would you like to see done differently? Have you any suggestions for folk like Phil McAnespie? Phil would probably welcome your comments and does read the forum, at least sometimes. If there is useful discussion here I'll certainly point him to it. Maybe he'll even take part.

[nemphlar]

I'm employed by what might be considered a global company and I'm continually surprised by the parochial attitude in Scotland where tiny schisms prevail, surely we need to toughen up and accept controversial opinions and the national association is the place for these discussions to take place. If I have a problem I would like to have the opinion of the most experienced/ knowledgeable beekeepers available suffering conditions similar to mine.

[Phil McAnespie]

Hi Gavin and All,
Due to a huge beekeeping commitment at the Flower Show in Ayr I have just had the opportunity of looking at this thread. Gavin is right that I just get the opportunity from time to time to see the forum and occasionally take part. This is not lack of interest but unfortunately lack of time.
The comments I am presently writing I do without actually pouring over the previous items in minute detail but having gained a flavour of the comments made.

As Gavin has commented the SBA does undertake a broad range of activities some of which I am sure will interest everyone. The SBA as far as I understand was not initiated to take over the role of local associations and do their job for them. I understand that it was brought about to have a body which could encompass these associations and take them and their ideas forward to those in higher authority and develop the body as a whole to grow. I suppose this is a little like the various local association committees which we have. They are meant to try and take the various associations forward and help them to grow and develop.

As a consequence we do require to have members who are willing to get involved and bring fresh ideas to the table. I actually do agree that we have, as an organisation, got to look at what we are presently doing and see how we can improve on it. One of the requests I made to the SBA executive when I became president was that we have an exec meeting where we actually spend the time only looking at ways we can take the association forward and come forward with new ideas rather than that of a normal exec meeting. I appreciate all that has gone before and all the excellent work done but I also understand that we either move forward or backwards as there is no standing still in any organisation. As such I welcome any ideas and suggestions that are feasible to take our organisation forward to a different level of activity and standing.

However in saying this we have to remember that progression can come at a cost. Not only financially but in time and effort by local association and exec members. The question has to be asked, are there members out there willing to come forward and take on the challenge?

Let me site one or two circumstances. There are three executive positions which have been advertised in the last magazine. Treasure, General Secretary and Webmaster. Has anyone applied for these positions or willing to do so? Please contact Bron Wright or myself and we would be delighted to speak with you.
At the last Highland Show Willie Taylor stepped into the breach and put on the display for the SBA. During the show we were able to recruit Peter Mathews to take on the vacant position of Promotion of Beekeeping. This position will require to be confirmed by the membership at the AGM and I trust that this will take place as Peter and the committee which he has formed will do an excellent job I am sure in the future.

As far as the magazine is concerned, I believe Nigel Southworth is doing an excellent job in bringing about changes which he feels will help develop the magazine from that which he inherited. He does this, as Gavin says, for no monthly remuneration and also in his own time. Yes it is easy to compare various magazines and editorials and differentiate between them. However this is only of value when the background of these magazines are the same. As far as Beecraft is concerned there is a larger editorial staff involved and also a greater pool of writers. The cost is only for the magazine and the readership subscription is far larger affording the opportunity of a larger size colour magazine. The SBA magazine does not have this priviledge and although we have looked at the prospect of an A4 colour magazine the cost at present is prohibitive. The SBA presently has a membership of about 1400-1450 members. As such it is difficult to get organisations to pay for colour adverts and pictures for a relatively small readership. Maybe in the future if members or advertisers were willing to pay more this could be revisited.

In respect of the membership, like all organisations it varies from year to year. The population of Scotland is about 1/10 that of England and Wales. As such the BBKA is not in percentage terms much larger than the SBA. Other factors come into play such as density of population and weather. Some of the associations in England are as large as the SBA but in a far smaller area. This allows greater opportunity of meeting up with other beekeepers, disseminating information and equipment.
In respect of the BBKA I have to take my hat off to them in respect of the work that they are doing for beekeeping in general. They are a large organisation and obviously have the lobby and money behind them to take ideas forward. However a lot of what they do comes about because of sponsorship, adopt a hive scheme and various other money raising schemes. At present the SBA is not involved in this way and maybe we have to consider this for the future.

Yes there are many ways that we have to try to improve and hopefully these will come sooner rather than later. However let me finish by commenting on some of the things which have been done in recent years. We do have a greater standing and communication with the Scottish Government in the Healthy Bee Strategy. There have been extremely beneficial talks taking place there by the SBA and Bee Farmers which at present is bringing about a safer environment as far as EFB and AFB is concerned. The Scottish Government has allocated money to assist beekeepers in education, disease diagnoses and on the field bee inspectors. There is a strong commitment to improve the health of our colonies and the expertise of our beekeepers and produce in the future new young beekeepers who are well equipped to accept the challenges of beekeeping in this century.

I appreciate that not all members are interested in the many functions which are undertaken by the SBA and are there predominately for the insurance. (By the way try pricing £2,000,000 Public and Product Liability Insurance and let me know how much change you get out of your SBA subscription.)
However I would encourage you to get interested and see for yourself what the SBA does and can do for you. Consider the education programme and have your eyes opened to a realm of beekeeping you never knew existed and also consider the opportunities which are available to serve on the executive and come and help bring about the changes you desire.

I apologise if this has in any way been a rant but as I said at the beginning I was not intending this to be a reply to all comments. Please contact me by email with any suggestions which you feel would help take forward the SBA and also suggestions as to how it can be achieved. I am definitely interested in any ideas which I can take forward to the exec in the meeting where these matters in particular will be discussed.
Phil McAnespie
President SBA
email: philmcanespie@supanet.com

[gavin]

Many thanks Phil for taking the time to reply to many of the points raised here and give your rather informed perspective on the organisation. I greatly appreciate it and I'm sure that the others do too.

To echo Nemphlar's points, frustrations and differences from previous years shouldn't be driving people's actions now. What matters is whether the organisation is doing the right things now, and whether we have a leadership that is prepared to consider how the organisation can evolve, as it has to do. We do have such a team at the helm, Phil the President and Bron his deputy, and a new magazine editor, so this is a great time to be looking forward rather than back. If you have constructive suggestions for improvements, let them be known.

Gavin