January is named after the Roman god Janus who, at the beginning of the year, looked both forward at what was to come in the new year and back at the happenings of the old year.

Firstly, I would like to congratulate all those who had their research published in 2023. Our list of ECT funded research articles is as impressive as ever and shows the wide variety of subject matter being researched around the world. Take a look at: https://www.evacranetrust.org/page/ect-funded-research-articles

Last year was full of insecurity. The world was just beginning to recover from the catastrophe of Covid but there were wars and political upheavals all of which affected the financial markets. Add to that global inflation and we all had to tighten our belts and that included the Eva Crane Trust. It was with much thought and sadness we had to put a moratorium on our grant giving activities. We did this in order to guard our core capital and ensure that when things get better, as we hope they will, we could once again fulfil our mission of helping scientists with their research and communicating new developments for better beekeeping around the world.

However, we were determined not to stagnate and have used the time to design and develop a new web site that we will be revealing early in 2024. The aim is to make it more accessible and searchable. A single portal to a whole world of bee information. Amongst the many changes that are being made, we have considered the requirements of our grant applicants, and a new Grant Submission Process is being installed. We are improving the search facility of Apicultural Abstracts, to help researchers discover historical data. In 2023 the Bee Boles Register (set-up by Dr Crane and Trustee Penny Walker) was donated to the Trust by IBRA. This unique register will be incorporated into the site. 

Finally, we are delighted that the Historical Collection of beekeeping artefacts, which is now housed at Ghent University will be made accessible. Many hours of work have taken place over the past year to carefully catalogue and photograph the items. This work is ongoing, but the vision of the Trustees to be able to share this collection with the wider public is coming to fruition. 

It looks like being an exciting year of major developments so in the old jargon Watch This Space!

Happy 2024.

Richard Jones
Chairman.