Colin is the current President of the Cornwall Beekeepers’ Association (CBKA). He has always been heavily involved with his local group, having been Programme Organiser and now Publicity Officer for many years.
As Publicity Officer, Colin not only writes reports on RBG meetings for inclusion in the CBKA monthly magazine Gwenyn Kernow, but also contributes other bee-related articles from time to time. He has written a beekeeping article for Cornwall Life and writes a monthly blog for Roseland-online, an internet journal serving the Roseland area.
Colin started keeping bees in 1996 with two swarms that he collected and currently runs a maximum of about 25 colonies across two home- and two out-apiaries at any one time. He additionally produces nuclei with his specially reared queens for sale to new beekeepers. Since he is essentially a practical beekeeper who recognises the importance of the honeybee to the ecological and agricultural environment, honey production is of secondary importance to him, though he still manages to produce enough to provide two top local hotels, his local Country Market and friends and family with supplies.
After the discontinuance of the beekeeping course that he attended, which gave him his basic knowledge of beekeeping, Colin saw an opportunity to plug the gap left and re-started the course, adding a 1 day taster for those who were not sure whether beekeeping was for them or not. He continues to run this, and the British Beekeepers’ Association course “Introduction to Beekeeping”, at Probus School. As a result of this (and the increased media coverage of the honeybee situation in the UK and abroad), the membership numbers of RBG – as well as other groups across Cornwall – have increased phenomenally over the past several years.
With this heightened awareness of the problems beekeepers have been experiencing with increasing Winter colony losses and the like, Colin has been invited to give talks on the subject to many interested groups across Cornwall and is regularly asked to talk to member groups of the CBKA at a more technical level. He is always available to advise prospective and current beekeepers on beekeeping matters. He has also visited several local schools with his hive and spoken to the children about bees and their importance to our survival. Colin is available to give further talks and support honeybee-related ventures.