After WWII (in fact, after WWI as well) the Govt resettled a number of returning soldiers to be "beekeepers". There were a number of training courses to prepare these 20 some odd year old men to be full time beekeepers. The places they were allocated would almost certainly have to be a place that didn't have existing commercial beekeepers already. Which usually meant somewhere that no one else wanted...
I got to thinking about that 'cohort' of beekeepers, and especially the ones that I knew, the ones that had endured for more than 30 years after WWII. And in each case, the businesses are still going today - I find that both amazing and reassuring.
Peter Pegram - Wairoa (Frasertown)
Dudley Lorimer - Hamilton (Hillcrest)
Stuart Tweedale - Taihape
Dudley Ward - Dannevirke
Now, those are just the ones that I knew reasonably well in my early beekeeping years - there are a heap of others to be included in the story, I expect. I don't know the history of the South Island guys well enough!
They would have entered the industry pretty much at the same time (I think Dudley Lorimer may have been active before the others?), after spending time in the services.
Both of the Dudleys were elected to the NBA Exec, and Dudley Ward was President for 3 years. But all would have known each other through field days and the NBA annual conference.
Like I said, the thing that struck me was that each of those beekeepers had families, and now X generations later, they are still beekeeping. That's nice...
I got to thinking about that 'cohort' of beekeepers, and especially the ones that I knew, the ones that had endured for more than 30 years after WWII. And in each case, the businesses are still going today - I find that both amazing and reassuring.
Peter Pegram - Wairoa (Frasertown)
Dudley Lorimer - Hamilton (Hillcrest)
Stuart Tweedale - Taihape
Dudley Ward - Dannevirke
Now, those are just the ones that I knew reasonably well in my early beekeeping years - there are a heap of others to be included in the story, I expect. I don't know the history of the South Island guys well enough!
They would have entered the industry pretty much at the same time (I think Dudley Lorimer may have been active before the others?), after spending time in the services.
Both of the Dudleys were elected to the NBA Exec, and Dudley Ward was President for 3 years. But all would have known each other through field days and the NBA annual conference.
Like I said, the thing that struck me was that each of those beekeepers had families, and now X generations later, they are still beekeeping. That's nice...
