THIS year's Burnham Food Festival was literally a hive of activity after around 10,000 bees landed just a short distance away from the stalls.

The bees were spotted on scaffolding in Victoria Street around 20 feet from where the town's big food event was taking place on Saturday morning.

Burnham tourism manager Ian Jefferies stood guard until the area could be cordoned off and keen beekeeper Cllr Peter Burridge-Clayton, who was at the festival, realised what was going on after speaking to Mr Jefferies, and as a member of the local beekeepers' association he offered to help remove them.

He told the Weekly News: "There were about 10,000 I'd say. It's common this time of year for around half the bees to leave the hive as it gets too small for them and they hunt out another home.

“I went to get my beekeeping suit and myself and Richard Cherry, another beekeeper, removed them and took them to a hive in the town.


“There were hundreds of people watching by this time. No-one was really panicking as such but they were very interested to see what was happening. It didn’t detract from the festival in fact it added to it. It was a spectacle within a spectacle.


“Bees in this situation generally stay in their swarm. A few did fly off while we tried to remove them but they went back to the scaffolding and we came back and took them away later. Normally hives have around 35,000 bees in them and when they outgrow their home around half of the bees go in search of a new hive.”


Organisers say the crowd of 20,000 visitors were “not phased” by the temporary invasion. at the heart of the busy festival.


Organiser of the festival, Sarah Milner Simonds, said: “Bees weren’t on our risk assessment but a calm, professional response from our stewards and management team meant there was little buzz about this.


“The festival itself was a big success with stalls four deep at times.”


Sarah added: “Our stewards were alerted to the swarming of the bees by traders and members of the public. We assessed the situation, cordoned off the area, placed an experienced steward on duty and sought professional advice from an apiarist who was trading at the show. We contacted Somerset Bee Keepers who attended to collect the swarm. We are very grateful to the member of the public, who is also a beekeeper, who stayed by the cordon to offer advice to visitors.

Burnham and Highbridge Weekly News:
“We are happy to report that there was no panic, no stings and two happy beekeepers at the end of the day.”


Festival co-organiser Beverley Milner Simonds added: “We hope that Festival Honey will make an appearance at a subsequent show.”


Trader at the show Fran Lee of Bumblees Preserves added
“The swarm of bees didn’t faze the organisers, they handled it with common sense and speed.”