News

The Latrobe Beekeepers Association headquartered in Newborough has come up with an outstanding innovation in the form of a fully equipped information van which informs the public on most aspects of beekeeping.

Created at a cost of about $14,000, the easily towable van has been funded by some careful shopping, aided by grants from local and state government sources.

According to Sean Smith and Marcus Wieloch from the LVBA, the van is used for the Club meetings as an education and training aid.

It also facilitates honey sales, and appears at many district farmers markets in Gippsland, community events, food and similar presentations.

Their assessment is that in its first year the van has appeared on 51 individual occasions and has been seen by 20,000 members of the public.

It is about to be temporarily withdrawn from service to enable replacement of the portable generator power unit by a solar panel assembly on its rooftop. The body which already affords excellent storage capacity for support equipment and bee hive components will be slightly modified to accommodate the solar battery supply.

For more information contact the Latrobe Valley Beekeepers Association at www.lvba.wildapricot.org or see the groups Facebook pages.