Club Meeting

Ged Marshall will give a talk  on 'Year in the Life of a Bee Farmer' 

Ged started beekeeping when he was 15, spending a Summer working for a  commercial (3,000 hive) operation in France. He got his first hives in  the early ’80s and went full time in July 1989. Building up the  business, focusing on bulk honey production and more recently, queen bee  production. He has worked in France, Tenerife, Denmark and at Buckfast  Abbey with Brother Adam to help improve his beekeeping. In February 2014  Ged was the first Bee Farmer in the country to be awarded with the  status of ‘Master Bee Farmer’ having reached the highest level in the  art, science and craft of bee farming accepted by the Worshipful Company  of Wax Chandlers and the Bee Farmers Association of the United Kingdom.  He has achieved professional recognition through the licentiateship of  the City and Guilds of London Institute.

As well as this, Ged has served on the Bee Farmers Association committee  for 12 years and in 2017 he was elected chairman of the board of  directors. He worked on the Honey Working Party in Brussels, becoming  vice-chairman of the group representing all European beekeepers in  meetings with the EU Commission. He has also served on the Bee Health  Advisory Panel run by the governments Ministry of Agriculture and, more  recently, was a member of the Healthy Bees Plan set up by FERA (Food and  Environmental Research Agency).