to some fearsome new members.

But they were hardly bee-ming with joy -- for the added excitement had a sting in the tail. The 25,000-odd new faces invaded one of the courts at the Bermuda Squash Racquets Association, without even paying their dues.

And it was left again to bee keeper Mr. Randolph Furbert to restore fair play.

For the second time in three years he was called to the Devonshire club to eliminate a beehive.

This time the hive was in the gutter of the roof of Court Two, explained club manager Ms Sandra Outerbridge.

"It has been a hive of activity down here. The place has been humming!'' she laughed.

Ms Outerbridge told how Mr. Furbert donned familiar battledress, and sprayed the gutter with insecticide.

"The bees flew out of the gutter and into Court Two. That was the only place they could go.

"Thousands of them went into there to die. We even had to close the court down for a while.'' JUST UNBEE-LIEVABLE! -- Squash club manager Ms Sandra Outerbridge uses her racquet to make a clean sweep of the bees which invaded the club last week.