Beekeeping but of a different kind

Today I helped chaperone our charity mascot, Tabby, who was dressed as a giant bee

As well as beekeeping, one of my other great passions is running. I run with a fantastic group of ladies at my local running club Regency Runners. Today Leamington Spa played host to the annual Regency 10km race. Normally I'd be running but today I assisted our charity's mascot, who was dressed in a giant bee outfit (although it may be hard to believe, this wasn't actually my idea). 

Although the temptation to wrestle the costume off Tabby (or to at least have a go at wearing the bee's head) was pretty great,  I instead helped to assist her (she couldn't really see a thing) as we cheered our ladies off at the start line, went around with buckets collecting money from the spectators and then seeing them cross the finish line at the end.

Tabby and I with some of our Regency Runners at the start. We're all very smiley and I'm sure in that suit Tabby was smiling too.

Although I felt a bit disappointed that I couldn't run the race myself, it was very rewarding to help raise money for a great local charity such as Crasac and to see the looks on the children's faces when they saw the giant bee. One little girl had a smile from ear to ear as she hugged the bee while her granddad took her photo. Very sweet.

Later on, however, I did have a quick check on the Beehaus - the weather is till too chilly to do a  full inspection but when I lifted the lid I saw that they'd made huge inroads into the fondant and I could actually see the bees through the cling film. And even better than that, I saw some bees coming into the Beehaus with pollen. Happy days. 

I've now had a stern talking to the weatherman and put an order in for some hot weather and sunshine. Surely it's about time!