Monday 2 July

Teams arrive in the IMYB venue at Nerac in France. Our 3 English competitors are Robyn, 15, from Hexham Beekeepers Association, in Northumberland, Natalie, 13, from Calderstones School in Liverpool and May, 15, who comes from Romsey Beekeepers in Hampshire. 

IMYB is an annual meeting ensured by a multinational non-profit community for young people interested in beekeeping. Even though the event started in 2010 as an initiative of a few countries from central Europe lead by the Czech Republic, it has gained a large popularity and has become the largest international meeting for young beekeepers worldwide.
Young beekeepers in action.
It is designed for participants in the age from 12 to 16 who compare their knowledge and skills, establish new friendships and find more about other countries and cultures during usually a four-day meeting.
Wednesday 4th July
BBKA team leader Simon Cavill reports: 
"We are guests of the French organisers based out of a Technical College teaching agriculture including bee farming located in Nérac with the gorgeous Lot et Garrone district in SW France.

"Our hosts have made us very welcome and the English team of May, Robyn and Natalie have been very popular and instantly integrated with the other 29 teams from across Europe, Russia and India.

"They have been kept extremely busy with a mixture of Beekeeping and cultural exercises and kept largely separate from the adults until today where we are all off to explore  Bordeaux and the Atlantic coast."
Wednesday 4 July 1700
The flags around this map give you some idea of the number of nationalities that send youngsters to the IMYB. 
This pic was taken just before the formal opening of the event at the municipal centre in Nouvelle-Aquitaine and welcome from the local mayor 
May wanted to point out where the English flag is and gets some help from another beekeeper who, by the flag he is highlighting, is from Germany. 
Friday 6 July
Team manager, Simon Cavill, squeezed into this official shot of the girls in front of the map!
The full results are in and our girls teams came, 4th , 5th and 6th. England was overall just outside the top 10 when the countries results were ranked. 
Here are some more pictures of the trip:
On the Eurostar travelling to the event
The meeting was held in the Lot et Garonne region of France 
Young beekeepers have a series of tasks to perform including identifying parts of a honeybee 
Assembling a colony from pictures of frames 
But of course everybody gets a special T-shirt to take home 
Our girls, Natalie, Robyn and May with their certificates 
Having a laugh about the slogan on the ice cream tub!
Spark out on the train back home! 
-ends-