Treasurer - Introducing Philip Earle

Philiip has been keeping bees for a VERY long time, infact since 1968 I was given a book, more a bible, called "A Practial Guide to Beekeeping" by DJ Digges. The book was read from cover to cover then in 1969 bees appeared. I started off with in August with a 4 frame Nuc and a WBC hive obtained for a sum of £10 from the late Harry Clements. I was also introduced to the Belfast and District Beekeepers Association. This was the first time I'd seen the inside of a hive. It was a quick induction, I remember Harry handing me a frame covered in bees "You hold this and I'll just mark the queen". I was wearing no gloves and the bees were crawling all over my hands as Harry chased the queen around the comb to catch her., This colony was carefully given TLC and grew over the autumn, survived the winter and emerged in the spring building up to a massive one and a half brood . Unfortunately I was very green at beekeeping and the bees did not read the same book as me so I lost my first Section honey crop to swarming. The next year I got a second hive set up.

Beekeeping is a constant learning curve !

Being at school doing my GCSE's followed by University Education I never kept more than 3 hives, then I decided to expand. I now have 'about' 20 hives and about 10 nucs

1998 obtained his Beginners Beekeeping Certificate
2001 obtained his Intermediate Beekeepers Certificate
Senior - maybe sometime...