Institute of Northern Ireland Beekeepers

The INIB Chairman is Michael Young MBE.
'I live in Hillsborough with a beautiful wife Rae four lovely daughters Jodie, Jamie, Jasmin and Rachel Harley as well as a cockerel, two chickens and four doves. My granddaughter Sienna and I have just made a Bug Hotel in the back of the garden but my other granddaughter Scarlet has other ideas.
I keep my bees at Malone Golf Club where I prefer to work with Langstroth hives and am currently planning to work solely and breed native dark bees. I like all things to do with beekeeping and am addicted to making mead.
I like to lecture and travel abroad for beekeeping programmes.
My hobbies are many as I like to have a full life, gardening, judging bee produce, pottery, encaustic wax, oil and watercolour painting, mead making, music and photography are just a few of what I like to do. My work load holds me back a little. I used to be a workaholic but now I am too busy for that.
My favourite bee and the one I am breeding in my apiary is the native dark bee from Donegal. My most respected bee is the Apis Scutalata (known as the African Killer Bee). Purely the fact that it is a survival animal, does not succumb to AFB, CCD and can sort Varroa out with ease.'

The INIB Secretary is Caroline Thomson.
'I started beekeeping in 2005 with business partners and friends John Hill and Susie Turner from Crumlin Co Antrim. We have anything between 4 and 8 hives – depending on swarms !!
Married the love of my life Bill, we live in a beautiful home next to the river Cam near Crumlin. We are owned by three cats and two dogs – all rescue animals that landed on their paws when they found us. Bill and I love gardening - he pulls the weeds and I plant the flowers.
As well as Secretary of INIB I am also Secretary of Randalstown and District Beekeepers Association. And Secretary to Talnotry Avian Care Trust, wildlife sanctuary for small mammals and birds in Crumlin.
Hobbies other than beekeeping - singing, walking with the dogs and gardening are - jam and gin making with harvest from the garden and the hedgerows - the early stages of Mead making and listening to my Ipod.'

Ernie Watterson.
Ernie is a retired civil servant with considerable experience in project management, unit management and staff training. Ernie has 15 years beekeeping experience and is currently Chairman / Secretary of Mid Ulster Beekeepers Association (MUBKA). Ernie has delivered talks on beekeeping to various local groups over the years and has given interviews and talks on local radio about beekeeping. He has assisted and arranged many beekeeping displays at numerous venues in the Mid Ulster area. He applied and obtained grant funding for a 5 day visit to Macedonia with 10 MUBKA members to see at first hand beekeeping methods in practice there. Ernie has visited several beekeepers in Canada and California to discuss best practices in beekeeping and share beekeeping experiences.

Sam Baird BSc MCOptom
Sam Baird is currently chairman of Dromore and District Beekeepers Association, the largest in Ireland (170 members). By profession an optometrist of 28 years standing. He is a training and pre- registration supervisor for the British College of Optometrists. He has a special interest in binocular bio-microscopy and illumination, which is integral to honeybee queen insemination and is currently developing a new unique viewing bio-microscope platform for the same. He holds the Federation of Irish Beekeepers Association Preliminary and Intermediate Scientific and Practical certificates and has delivered lectures to these courses. Sam has presented demonstrations of live bees for national television. He has lectured at the National Conferences of the British Beekeepers Association and the Irish Beekeepers Association. Sam has delivered presentations to Dromore High School Specialist Science Centre and to The Wallace High School working closely with the Biology and Science Departments and hosting practical student visits to working apiaries.

More photos of the 2009 committee are available on the INIB Photo Album site, as are lots of other photos of past events. Just click on the link below

Link to Photo Albums