VIDEO: A lifetime's hobby – would you bee-lieve it
Not many people can claim to have kept up a hobby for more than 50 years, but two men from the Chichester area have done exactly that.
Roy Robinson from Donnington and Stewart Hanwell from Lavant have been keeping bees since before the second world war, and both have admitted to being no closer to understanding the insects.
They have been recognised for their efforts as bee enthusiasts with a special certificate from the British Beekeepers' Association.
Bees have been part of Mr Robinson's family for generations. Part of an unused hive in his garden belonged to his uncle, who served in the Boer war in South Africa.
Mr Robinson, 78, of Forge Close, grew up with bees, and as a schoolboy quickly found a use for them.
One day when he didn't want to do an exam he bravely – or stupidly, depending on how you see it – put his head at the entrance to the hive.
"I didn't want to do a maths exam," he said, "so I stuck my head up against the hive. My eyes swelled up so I couldn't see for two or three days."
He did his national service with the RAF in his early 20s, and he still fondly remembers bringing Tangmere airfield to a halt one day while he caught a swarm of bees outside a senior official's office.
"They weren't going to go near them. I had to convince them the bees were perfectly harmless."
After going home to get his protective clothing, he came back to take the swarm down.
The officers on base were expecting some kind of lengthy ceremony to
take the swarm down, but it took all of a few minutes.
It's that kind of challenge, and the daily ins and outs of trying to understand the beehive, which has kept him interested throughout
the years.
It has been more than a hobby for Mr Robinson. He has won numerous county and national awards for his honey, and became a qualified honey judge.
Fellow member at the Chichester branch of the West Sussex Beekeepers' Association Stewart Hanwell first started helping out his dad with the numerous hives he kept in the garden at a young age.
The 81-year-old, of Lavant Road, continued helping his dad with the hives once he left school, and gave up for only a short time when he was first married.
After his dad died he took over all his hives. At the time he was a milkman and used to look at the bees when he got home from his round. When he retired at 62, he had more than 60 hives.
He said he never expected to be recognised for his beekeeping.
"You just look after bees and that's it," he said. "Unless you do take an interest in them early, you do not get many people doing it for more
than 50 years.
"A lot of people don't like them because they sting. You get stung occasionally, but not very often. If you treat them gently they are all right.
"We think we know what bees are going to do, but they have a mind of their own."
Mr Hanwell remembers trying to take a hive away from a rape field after the harvest had finished, but because the colony had become strong they weren't too happy about being moved.
"We had them in a hive and they got a bit angry," he said. "A tractor came along and the driver ended up with one or two bees in his cab."
Keeping the interest alive
With bees having such an underestimated importance to our daily lives, it's a good job the West Sussex Beekeepers' Association is keeping the interest alive.
President of the Chichester branch John Stevens, and his wife Christine, have recently started a course for beginner beekeepers and were oversubscribed with interest.
"There is a great resurgence in the interest of beekeeping," said Mrs Stevens.
"There has been a lot of publicity about the problems bees have had and the dangers if we were to lose all the bees.
"In this area, beekeepers are reporting fewer losses.
"Darwin reckoned if all the bees died we would have only about 40 years left."
The couple's interest started in 1994, and despite their allergies to bee stings they have kept going.
Mrs Stevens said: "When we were living in a house on the Goodwood estate, a local beekeeper asked if he could put a beehive on the lawn.
"John said, only if I can look over your shoulder and learn a bit about it.
"They are fascinating. The challenge of trying to encourage wild insects to stay in a beehive is great.
"It is magical to watch them coming and with pollen with their legs."
For more information about beekeeping in the Chichester area contact John or Christine Stevens on 01243 533559 or Emma O'Driscoll on 01243 811759, or see www.wsbka.org.uk/Chichester.htm
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Monday 13 February 2012
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