The buzz level at Camden Lakeside golf course has gone up a notch or two now that it’s the home of the Macarthur Beekeepers Association.
Wests Group Macarthur, owners of Camden Lakeside, stepped up to help the association in its hour of need last year when it found itself without a home.
The association operated for some years within the Centre for Sustainable Living at Mt Annan Botanic Garden.
When the centre lost its funding last year, it also meant the Beekeepers Association were homeless.
Wests Group Macarthur offered to help and provide a new home for the association and its 165 members at Lakeside Golf Club Camden.
Wests says it saw the association’s work of both producing local honey and as an education centre for current and prospective beekeepers as an important contribution to its own sustainability efforts and community engagement.
The result was a new, purpose-built facility located within the Lakeside golf course maintenance precinct on Ballandean Boulevard.
There are 13 hives in the apiary, along with an education and workshop shed and a food-grade honey processing shed.
The association is ecstatic with the outcome, not just finding a new home, but one that’s even better than the one they left behind.
Their Lakeside setup also has everything they need for special days, whereas in their former home they had to bring everything they needed in that day.
The official opening of the complex was marked acrosstwo special events, one for the association members and one for Wests staff.
The most recent held last Friday was celebrated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by Camden Mayor Ashley Cagney, Macarthur Beekeepers Association committee members and Wests administration team and board of directors.
To mark the beginning of this partnership a “bee approved’’ Flowering Gum was planted alongside the sheds as a lasting symbol of growth and collaboration.
With open meeting nights held at Wests League Club, and field days held monthly at the Lakeside complex, the community is invited to pop along and find out more about the art of beekeeping and the importance of bees to our pollination, food chain, and overall environment. Visit here for more and for details of their latest honey stalls: https://macarthur.beekeepers.asn.au/
As the current president of Macarthur Beekeepers, I would publicly declare our most sincere appreciation for the support received from Wests.
We are both honoured and proud to be associated with an organisation such as Wests which has such a strong, proactive, and clearly demonstrated support for the local community.
The facilities provided to us are truly inspirational and we are committed to utilising them in our service of recreational beekeeping across Macarthur.
Thank you!