Gormanston Summer school

solargain

Was anybody at the summer school this year , what did you think needs improving for 2015?

brianmc

I only made it to the Tuesday this year, but I had a good day... Half of Thomas Seeley's lecture on "hive thirst" (I was late), Thomas Ellis on his CDB hives and a good microscopy session that filled the whole afternoon going from dissections to disease diagnosis to pollen analysis.

What I do remember from my first Gormanston a couple of years ago is when I walked through the front door, it took a while to figure out where I was supposed to go or what I was supposed to do. Everybody was friendly so it all gets figured out very quickly but I think if it was possible to get someone to volunteer to stand inside the front door, clearly marked as a "host" (t-shirt, big obvious badge, a booth or FIBKA desk maybe?) it would probably be very helpful for a lot of people, particularly newcomers.

That said, I heard a while back that the summer school will likely have to find a new venue after this year anyway so maybe it will become a non-issue.

SC Kevin

Mt first time going this year and i loved it, I was up there Wednesday and Thursday.

I got in a few good lectures like morphometry and DNA analysis of the honey bee (something im looking to get it to) and Thomas Seeley's talks were very good as well.

Im already looking forward to next year!

Reesy

I went up just on Thursday - attended 2x excellent lectures (Tom Seeley) and one other decent one, & gave one - great fun. Went shopping (came away without too much damage to the wallet this time) and met some old friends. An absolute pleasure.

Roll on next year.

What do I think needs improving? Well, based on this year, not much! Mind, I do think they could cram more into the day. With an earlier start & shorter breaks we'd get a lot more lecture & workshops in. And if you don't want to attend so many, that's up to you!

Incidentally, it seems we are at Gormo for another 5 years.

solargain

Is there any extra topics you would like to see covered next year

DK man

First year and definitely agree with brianmc - it takes time to find your way around and it's a bit confusing when u first arrive so it would be great to have an info point.

I went For the first three days and enjoyed it overall - I was a little surprised that the age profile is very much in the golden years and I think it would be great it the organisers could do something to attract younger people to attend.

I must say I wasn't impressed with the food - school dinners for the price of pub grub which is usually a higher standard...

I found the programme a little hard to follow!!!

Overall very enjoyable and very good lectures so well done to all...

DK man

solargain wrote: »

Is there any extra topics you would like to see covered next year

Hive building would be great -

Harvesting honey / extracting / bottling etc

Ta

SC Kevin

DK man wrote: »

Hive building would be great -

Harvesting honey / extracting / bottling etc

Ta

Some Associations already do hive building and there was an extracting demo at this years, but still handy to have them again for next year.

I would be very interested in a straining honey demo to get it ready for markets/honey shows

Joe Brennan

Hello Kevin
I attended Gormonstown for 2 days, & must say I was very sorry I could not stay for the complete course. As beginner at bee keeping I could not comment on any improvements they should make. My first impression was mind blowing, & am pleased to say I learned so much. Also I thought it was great value for money.

all the best Joe