The branch was set up in April 1932 by a small group of local enthusiasts as a branch of Worcestershire Beekeepers’ Association. Among the first members was the then doyen of beekeepers in the county, Van Frachem, who lived in Stourport. The branch survived the war and in the 1940’s it expanded, which is when our longest-serving member, Bill Hancox, joined. Also at this time Harold Basketfield, who was to become probably the most influential member over the next 50 years, started keeping bees. Other well-known beekeepers at the time were Bob Bradford, Cyril Hamshire and Bert Hinton.

The branch continued to progress, with several members attending Jim Crundwell’s excellent beekeeping courses at Pershore College. In 2000, the membership was steady at around 20-25 members, but in the following ten years all the publicity about bees encouraged a rapid near tripling of the numbers. In 2019 the number of members reached a new record of 109.