Gwent Beekeepers’ Association
The Gwent Beekeepers’ Association (GBKA) is a voluntary organisation and registered charity. We were founded in 1918 and originally known as Monmouthshire BKA.
Our aim is to encourage, improve and advance beekeeping in the area covered by the former county of Gwent. To do this we organise a number of services and social events which we hope will support and inform beekeepers and encourage them to make contact with each other. We keep members up to date with new research and practice, and also with the new threats and solutions that are constantly emerging. We feel that communication between beekeepers and the exchange of news is an essential element in the diffusion of experience and new ideas throughout the beekeeping fraternity. We also work to represent beekeeping both nationally and internationally and try to promote bees and beekeeping to the general public. We put a lot of effort into running a beginners course and teaching novices.
We are one of the nine members of MSW beekeeping convention, a group of associations that take it in turns to host an annual weekend beekeeping conference. We also encourage members to attend conferences run by British Beekeepers’ Association (BBKA) and others.
In 2008, Torfaen County Borough Council led an ambitious bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund for a £2 million grant to support projects directed at the cultural, natural and economic regeneration of the area surrounding Blaenavon. This bid has succeeded and GBKA is involved as a partner, spearheading a group of projects aimed at promoting beekeeping in this area of so-called forgotten landscape, which includes one of the largest expanses of heather moorland in South Wales.
