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Good afternoon to you all, I hope that your summer crop has been good.

I am in the process of setting up a network of people across the UK to support injured servicemen and women who want to become beekeepers. And I am seeking volunteers to support this.

Let me explain the project.....

Many service personnel as well as having physical injuries from war also suffer from PTSD and beekeeping is an activity that will help that (I won't go into too much detail about this aspect now but just please at this stage accept that point).

I am an ex army officer and I have strong links with H4H and together with a senior member of the the staff at the H4H Tedworth House Recovery Centre in Tidworth Wiltshire I have been working to establish a small apiary and to train staff to look after the apiary throughout the year.

The three colonies at that apiary are doing well and have produced a small crop of honey this year. I have personally trained 5 members of the staff from Tedworth House including a theory course and a days practical at my apiaries near Portsmouth. I have been supported by a good friend from our local association. W have received some discount for the equipment from a Thornes.

Furthermore BJ Sherriff have come on board and have been working with us to design a bespoke bee suit that can be worn by amputees; this is work in progress and we have now got some design templates to manufacture in the next few months.

I will be running the first theory course for wounded & injured service personnel (WIS) at the end of january 2017 and this will be followed by a two day practical course in early May 2017 (dates TBC).

This is where you come in.......

Clearly the WIS will come from around the UK and I want to establish a network of mentors who can make contact with named WIS who live close to them and provide support. Once I have paired you up I would be keen for you to attend one of the two practical days in May at Tedworth House (I will buy you lunch but sadly can't pay travel costs). This will give you an opportunity to meet your mentee and also see fist hand what we have created. However this is not a deal-breaker and there is no pressure on you to do so.

I need you to be an experienced beekeeper but also a person who is not judgmental, who is patient & willing to help someone who may have a range of physical & mental needs. You will also need to be able to pass on your knowledge in a positive manner without making your mentee feel stupid. (please forgive my directness on these requirements but PTSD is a terrible condition and it will deprive a person of their confidence & self esteem and can also affect memory and rational thinking).

So if you are interested please contact me on the e-mail below. I will then create a database of mentors and try to hook people up as we go forward. I will also send you additional detail about the project.

At this stage I cannot be sure how much demand there will be for the courses but initial feeling is that they will be over-subscribed.

Finally, and to be frank, if you are not interested in supporting this that is fine and quite acceptable but I do not want this to attract any unpleasant comments or criticisms that all too often spoils threads on this forum

Thank you for your time

[email protected]
 
This is a good thing, I'd like to help, tell me more.

Email me here : [email protected]

with regards
 
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that is one of the most fantastic things I have heard of in a long time.. Bravo bravo
 
What a fantastic idea. I would love to be able to help, but sadly in the wrong country & certainly not experienced enough.

I wish you every success & if there is any way I can provide help (fund raising, for example), please let me know

Rachel
 
The very best wishes with your venture. I would be happy to support from Norfolk and will send contact details.
 
Help for Heroes has been running an apiary site in HMS Drake in Plymouth for sometime.
 
Im happy to help some one in Bedford
 
ValMc yes thank you for pointing this out they have a couple of hives and have had for some while they are managed by a very nice and committed member of staff however they are not geared up to run courses and we are going to start by running them from Tedworth House and maybe later once we know the interest we can consider running courses at other venues. Tedworth House has accommodation etc and caters fro the unique needs of WIS.
 
H4H project

Have you anybody from Herefordshire involved yet?
 
Hello to all who have replied. Thank you this is a good response but if you have not done so already please could I trouble you to e-mail me at:

[email protected]

The reason I need you to do this is because I can then capture all e-mail addresses and send out group e-mails rather than having to send e-mails and post information on various forums.

Thank you
 
OKI Doki, Set's a slightly different tone ....
 
Good effort

Good one mate.
I'm up for it if you need anyone in West Yorkshire.
I'll email you as well.
 
Thank you to everyone and I am sorry for the sad little lives of the three people who once again feel it is appropriate to be as negative as they possibly can. Sad really but I I won't be deviated from this project it is something I have worked very hard to establish and will continue to do so.....To the positive people who have contacted me via e-mail thank you & I will be in touch very soon to give additional detail.
 
Thank you to everyone and I am sorry for the sad little lives of the three people who once again feel it is appropriate to be as negative as they possibly can. Sad really but I I won't be deviated from this project it is something I have worked very hard to establish and will continue to do so.....To the positive people who have contacted me via e-mail thank you & I will be in touch very soon to give additional detail.

Sad lives ... I think not ? Not everyone does their good work in a public, look at me, send me your money and I will do more fashion ...
 
I will be running the first theory course for wounded & injured service personnel (WIS) at the end of january 2017 and this will be followed by a two day practical course in early May 2017 (dates TBC).

This is where you come in.......

I need you to be an experienced beekeeper but also a person who is not judgmental, who is patient & willing to help someone who may have a range of physical & mental needs. You will also need to be able to pass on your knowledge in a positive manner without making your mentee feel stupid. (please forgive my directness on these requirements but PTSD is a terrible condition and it will deprive a person of their confidence & self esteem and can also affect memory and rational thinking).

So if you are interested please contact me on the e-mail below. I will then create a database of mentors and try to hook people up as we go forward. I will also send you additional detail about the project.

To be fair I think you're doing most beekeeping associations a disservice. We'll train anybody who wants to be trained and are more than willing to support people with a wide range of disabilities, and certainly don't make any mentees feel stupid. And, you know something, we do it all for free because every single one of us is a volunteer.
 
BeeJayBee - Yes you are right local associations run very good course no dis-service to them shown or intended and we will be recommending to WIS that they join their local BKA. However many of these courses are run over 10-12 sessions often on the same day of the week which will mean lots of travelling and cost. Furthermore we are making no charge for this course it is completely free and they will get a BBKA Beekeeping guide fro free. I give my time, equipment and knowledge for free. Also... and you may not have thought of this...some of these people are on a cocktail of medication and we don't know how a bee sting would affect them (It may not at all but we just don't know). AT Tedworth we can ensure safety in this respect. Lastly thanks to BJ Sherriff we will have a stock of bespoke suits for WIS with differing amputations we don't have the ability to give these to individual associations. There are several other reasons why we are running this for WIS at Tedworth too many to recoup here though.
 
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