The AGM was held on Thursday January 13 with new office holders elected, however the treasurer position is still looking for a volunteer to replace the retiring treasurer.

There were 22 members in attendance with 20 apologies.
Reminder native bee workshop – two single day native bee workshops will be held with Tobias Smith on both Australian solitary and social bees for both members and the general public. The workshop will be held Saturday and Sunday March 5-6 at 18-26 Victoria Street Grafton (Clarence Valley Aboriginal Healing Centre / Gurehlgam Corporation). Non-members and novices are encouraged to attend, and numbers will be limited to 45 per day so please confirm as soon as possible.
Please contact Carol on 6643 3750 if you would like to attend either of these days.
Cost is $40 per person (includes lunch) for non-member and fully paid members who have paid membership fees by January 30 only pay for the cost of the lunch.
Yearly club membership fees are $20 per family.
The Grafton show is planned to be held Friday and Saturday May 6-7 this year and the group will be holding a display stand again on native bees, which seems to gain a lot of attention from attendees.

During the last meeting we heard from Wayne Fuller about the recent wet weather making ideal conditions for the introduced African Small Hive Beetle which is a significant pest for Apis mellifera honeybee hives and can be a problem for native stingless beehives during splitting, boxing or rescuing hives. A strong healthy, well-sealed, established native stingless beehive will rapidly glue down these intruders with resin inside the hive. But great care should be taken when splitting or boxing nests to keep the beetles out of the hive until the bees have rebuilt all their resin seals. Also use a box design with no gaps in the joints and try to cover the joints temporarily with strong weatherproof tape. Small Hive Beetles are brown, black coloured and approximately 5-7 mm long with clubbed antennae.

Anyone wanting to learn more about our local bees can attend as a visitor or joining members can become caretakers of the groups rescued hives in their own garden or backyard.
Next monthly meeting will be held on Thursday February 3 commencing 5:30pm at the South Grafton District Ex-Servicemen’s Club at 2 Wharf Street, South Grafton.
For any urgent native bee rescue enquiries or assistance, please call Bronwynn 0427 690 971 (rescue hotline) or visit our website www.clarencenativebees.org or email clarencenativebees.info@gmail.com