Meet the Committee

PRESIDENT

Edward Townsend

I am a retired chest surgeon and my GP thought that our two acre garden would be an excellent location for hives but did not tell us that they were in Dadant Hives. So we enrolled on the beginners course in 2001.

The bees eventually arrived and we were left to fend for ourselves. The hives were riddled with wax moth and took a long time to sort out. In recent years, I try to enter exhibits in the shows and have been moderately successful at local, county and national level.

As President I would like to encourage all members to ‘have a go’ and enter the shows, especially those in their first productive season i.e. year two of beekeeping.

CHAIRPERSON

Gillian Jones

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I came to beekeeping by accident when someone asked if they could keep bees in my woodland and was concerned I may not know what to do if they were away, so I signed up for the beginner’s course. I passed my Basic Assessment in 2017. I aim to have four strong colonies and want to be a good beekeeper rather than the most studious. I am fascinated by bee behaviour. Before becoming Chair in 2020 I was Secretary for three years.

I have had many diverse job’s but my main work was in organising major events for a consultancy company which honed my attention to detail and allowed me to travel a lot and is where I met my husband. I work from home running a business to rent our home, garden and land to photographers and film makers.

SECRETARY

Position to be filled

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All emails will be forwarded to one of the committee members.

Treasurer

Jonathan Lee

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I started with my first hive of bees in the early 1970s whilst still at school, where I was fortunate to have an inspirational Biology teacher. My career as an Electronics Engineer took me away from home for long periods of time, so my involvement with bees has been spasmodic over the years. I grew up in south Bucks and have lived in the locality ever since – initially joining the now defunct Denham Beekeepers society. Now retired, I have returned to the beekeeping fold and started tackling the BBKA Modules and also joined the Bucks Microscopy Group. During my career I spent a long time as a Senior Programme Manger running multi-million pound defence contracts. I am trying to bring the logic and expertise I gained during that period to assist the running of the club as your Treasurer.

Membership & Programme Secretary

Helen Cave

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I live in Amersham. I’m the membership and programme secretary and I’ve been on the committee since 2013. I’ve kept bees since doing the Beginners in 2011. My colonies have always been in out apiaries. I’m working my way slowly through the modules. I feel there is always something new to learn about bees, and yes, I do get a real buzz when something works well. I’m married, three grown up lads and two gorgeous little granddaughters. Outside of bees, I have an allotment, play bridge and go jogging with my husband.

Education Secretary

Steve Troll

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I’ve been hooked on wildlife of most kinds all my life and especially so since I retired from full time employment. My oldest grandson bought me a bee suit for Christmas 2017 after he and his class mates received an inspiring talk about bees at his school in Ley Hill and that motivated my wife and I to sign up for the Chalfonts beginners’ course. Luckily, we have a large garden and able to keep our bees at home in Chorleywood and although making all the usual beginner mistakes I think we are doing OK.

I firmly believe that the more people who understand honeybees will also appreciate the plight of our local ecology and will possibly make small adjustments that will make large differences to insect populations and consequent food chains.

Whilst I am involved, I hope to help the club continue the existing excellent education programmes and help as many people as possible become informed and to have as much fun with their bees as we do.

BEGINNER'S APIARY

Jim Liness

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I’m a country boy at heart, growing up in the foothills of the Sidlaw Hills just north of Dundee. My grandfather kept bees but they were a mystery to me then and I wasn’t allowed near them. I didn’t get around to keeping bees until 2014 when I was given a Polystyrene Langstroth Hive. Now all my colonies are in Polystyrene Langstroths and located in my garden. I help run the Beginners Course and most Wednesday and Saturday mornings I can be found at the club’s Beginners' Apiary, fixing, mending or demonstrating some aspect of beekeeping. I enjoy making changes or trying a new process, and love the way that Beekeeping helps you to stay in touch with natural world around you.

TRADING OFFICER

Mike Walters

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I was born and raised in Harrow and have been keeping bees for several years having 10 hives in two locations. I took over from Bill as trading officer and enjoy the interaction with the club members. I don’t particularly like honey, but I love watching the bees work and find them fascinating and love to talk about them to anyone silly enough to ask. I enjoy experimenting with different types of hives and equipment, most of which I build myself. Passing on what little knowledge I have to new beekeepers is something I find highly rewarding and teaching is something I think this club does so well. I also enjoy motorbike riding, scuba diving, sailing, woodworking and woodturning.

I run a gardening firm employing about 15 staff so I don't have much spare time, especially during the summer.

EVENTS

Dorothie Jones

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I have been interested in nature since I was a child. I studied botany and zoology at university and I think I always wanted to be David Attenborough! However, as so often happens, life took a different turn and I spent most of my working life in medical research and later in science education. When I retired in 2015, I signed up for the beginners course and the rest as they say is history. I keep bees in my garden and my husband now describes himself as a "bee-widower!" I think we are extremely lucky to have such an active and supportive club here in the Chalfonts. I continue to learn so much from the club and it's members. My goal is to become a better practical beekeeper. We'll see how that goes!

WEBMASTER

Varsha Kirkby

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Having worked in IT industry for most of my life, I needed a change from staring at a screen all day to doing something completely different in my retirement. My husband who is an enthusiastic Gardner, decided that he would love to keep bees, so we enrolled on the beginners course at the Chalfonts Beekeepers Society, As luck would have it, one of the members was selling her beehives, so together with two other friends we took on the challenge of maintaining the hives and learning about beekeeping from the experts at the society. Six years on, we have several hives, and we are still enjoying and learning the art of beekeeping.