Any branch officer can be contacted via our Contact Us form.
Names in (brackets) are people temporarily covering the role as we seek someone to take the role on.
| Post held | Name | Contact details |
| President | Keith Owers | |
| Chairman | Tony Lindsell | chairman @ tivertonbeekeepers.uk |
| Vice Chairman | Ian Sorenson | |
| Branch Secretary | Jon Davies | secretary @ tivertonbeekeepers.uk |
| Treasurer | Steve Willis | treasurer @ tivertonbeekeepers.uk |
| Membership Secretary | Tony Lindsell | membership @ tivertonbeekeepers.uk |
| Programme Secretary | Lesley Ayre | |
| DBKA Trustee and EC Delegate | Tony Lindsell | |
| Education Coordinator | Clare Williams | education @ tivertonbeekeepers.uk |
| Minutes Secretary | Louise Scott | |
| Apiary Manager | Malcolm Crook | |
| Assistant Apiary Manager | Alan Barrow | |
| Apiary Advisor | Keith Owers | |
| Buzzette Editor | Frances Salisbury | buzzette @ tivertonbeekeepers.uk |
| AHAT Co-ordinator | Tracy Frankpitt | ahat @ tivertonbeekeepers.uk |
| Microscopist | Lesley Ayre | |
| Webmaster | William Lines | |
| Social Media and Press Officer | Vicky Morrish | |
| Committee Members | Charles Bradfield, Clive Rowe, Martin Stott, Sylvia Whitby |
Roles ex-Committee
| Role | Name |
| Apiary Assistant(s) | All branch members are encouraged to take part |
| Bulk Buying Scheme Co-ordinators | John Cummings and Richard Thomas – bulkbuying @ tivertonbeekeepers.uk |
Description of Roles
| Role | Description |
| Chair / Vice-Chair | We need someone who is confident at addressing meetings and can lead committee meetings. Although we all think that the chair of a committee should be an experienced bee-keeper this is not necessarily the case. This person just needs charisma, organisational skills and the ability to bring business to a close and not let us all whittle on too long in meetings! They need to be a figurehead for the branch and able to delegate jobs to the rest of us so that the job doesn’t become onerous. The chair would work closely with the vice chair to provide direction for the club and the rest of the committee would be extremely supportive to anyone who would be willing to take up this role. The vice chair would be expected to support the chair and step up to the job when the chair resigns or is unavailable . |
| Secretary | 1. Participate in Committee meetings. 2. Draw up and agree an agenda for the committee meetings with the Chairman. 3. Distribute agenda with minutes of the previous committee meeting to other committee members together with any other agenda relevant documentation. 4. Monitor the secretary’s mailbox at Tivertonbeekeepers.uk and action any requests, or queries. 5. Receive in-bound messages from the BBKA, DBKA (e.g. information re courses, events, etc.) and other sources (e.g. private individuals offering to host members’ hives, etc.) review and distribute to the membership via the eR2 system as appropriate. 6. Distribute Bulk Purchasing information and order forms via eR2 to members as requested (usually twice a year). 7. Prepare information pack for the AGM to include:- a. AGM Agenda b. Annual Secretary’s branch report. c. Minutes of previous AGM. d. List of committee members for the outgoing year, any changes to be advised to the DBKA post AGM. e. Branch Treasurer’s report (to be provided by the branch treasurer). f. Education Officer’s report. g. Asian Hornet (Yellow Legged Hornet) Co-ordinator report. h. Apiary Manager’s report. All to be distributed by eR2 to the membership. 8. Complete and submit application for the Mid Devon Show – invoice to be settled by branch treasurer. This may include other shows as required. 9. Agree annual programme of committee meetings with the Chairman. 10. To provide support as & when required to the Education Officer and sub team, the Apiary Manager, Programme Secretary & other officers. |
| Treasurer / Membership Secretary | You don’t have to be an accountant or a book-keeper to take on this important role but you do have to be reasonably good with figures and spreadsheets! A new person taking on this role would have plenty of support so don’t be scared to come forward. The new membership system has now been set up which makes life easier to process new members as they come in as it now only requirs updating the database. You would be responsible for giving figures at meetings so the committee knows how the finances of the club stand and a report for the AGM. |
| Programme Secretary | This person needs to liaise with members to find out what they want to learn and then book in speakers for our winter programme. They would also need to be willing to organise the Christmas get together and possibly put together a programme of summer events for members at the apiary. There is help available to find speakers so again this job isn’t too difficult and not too time consuming either once the speakers have been found – the position will be what you have time to organise! They would also be asked to submit an up to date diary of events to the editor of the DBKA magazine once a month when they ask for it. |
| Webmaster | The website must be kept up to date with news which will be emailed via the committee as things come in. You will make sure that it is functional and secure. Again support would be available to you as you take up the role and would be ongoing. |
| AHAT coordinator | The threat of the Asian hornet is constantly getting closer and we need someone to step up and help get us ready for the invasion! The role involves making the club and the wider public aware of the possible problems and would involve going to some meetings with other AHAT groups in the county; collecting information and allowing us as a branch to be prepared for any sightings. |
| Display team leader | We at Tiverton are proud of our ongoing record for providing displays at the various shows across the county. We need someone to lead a team of members to create next year’s display. You would be leading a group of members to formulate the display and hopefully be able to get to the shows themselves to discuss the creation with members of the public. We have always found that these displays bring in new members to our club so are well worth doing each year. These are fun sessions which can be held at your home or somewhere more public – that would be up to you to organise. |
| Apiary Team Leader / Manager | As a committee we are working to finalise a job description for this role but the main task will be to oversee the apiary and its subteam! To work closely with the education secretary and programme secretary; to sort out dates when the apiary will be open to members and to make sure the bees are well looked after. They will also be responsible for making sure the apiary rules and regulations are adhered to and for organising other members to help keep the apiary tidy. They will also liaise with the National Trust and the DBKA to make sure license agreements are upto date and that our relationship at Knightshayes progresses well into the future. They will be able to delegate jobs to other apiary team members and report back to the committee. |
| Apiary team members | We are sadly lacking in members who can spare time to go to the branch apiary. It would be great if we could get some new volunteers who could work with the Apiary Team Leader to make sure that members who visit the apiary have a good experience and want to come back and help themselves! This year we are looking at making some changes to make the apiary more accessible at different times and days instead of just Sunday mornings but we need people to help make this happen. |
| EC Delegate / DBKA trustee | This needs someone who is willing to attend the county meetings and vote on behalf of the branch at these events. They would have to report back to the branch on county matters and lead these discussions. The meetings are held every other month. |
| Press officer | We need someone who is willing to send press releases to the local papers when the club are holding events or participating in local events. |
| Buzzette editor | This person is just responsible for getting out the newsletter each month to members and circulating any extra emails which need to get out to members more quickly. The format of the newsletter is up to you and the deadline you require stuff to be submitted by but all members of the club can submit articles and photos for you to put in the newsletter at your discretion. |
AS YOU CAN SEE THERE ARE LOTS OF ROLES – THE MORE PEOPLE WHO VOLUNTEER SOME OF THEIR TIME THE EASIER IT IS FOR EVERYBODY – SO PLEASE THINK CAREFULLY ABOUT WHAT YOU WOULD LIKE TO BECOME INVOLVED IN AND THEN DO IT! Remember without a committee our club will cease to exist which would be very sad indeed.
NOT ALL THESE ROLES REQUIRE YOU TO JOIN THE COMMITTEE – you may be invited to send a report on the role to the committee from time to time.
Committee meetings are held face-to-face every other month and normally last 1-2 hours! Some stay for a few drinks afterwards to catch up on other news – how involved you are is totally up to you.