18th September 1937 - 6th September 2020

Terry Clare from Rainham in north Kent passed away on 6^th September a short illness.

Terry was a dedicated beekeeper starting in the 1970’s and managing hives up to two months before his death. He was an active member of his local club, Medway Beekeepers Association and he was a member of the Bee Farmers Association. Terry was the Chair of BIBBA and committee member for a number of years. He also attended some of the European Black Bee conferences (SICAMM).

Except for one occasion in the last twenty years Terry attended the annual FIBKA conference at Gormanston and we spent many happy evenings in the Huntsman putting the world to rights. Terry was so popular in Ireland, the year he missed Gormanston, the proprietor of the Huntsman asked where Terry was! So Terry was missed at the local hostelry as well as by the local beekeepers.

Terry enjoyed travelling and attended Apimondia in Dublin in 2005. BIBBA had a stand at this event managed by Terry who was the BIBBA Chair at that time. The team enjoyed talking about black bees (Apis mellifera mellifera) and bee breeding to delegates from around the world.

The following year he travelled to Egersund in Norway with David Loo, Claire Wilkinson and John Hendrie to spend a week beekeeping with a Norwegian family. This gave an opportunity to see how bees can survive in a climate harsher than the UK.

Many people across the UK remember Terry as the person who started their beekeeping interest either from one of his beginners’ courses run for many years in Kent or his interesting lectures held nationally. He really did promote beekeeping to a wide audience.

Terry was well known by members of the BBKA because he ran queen rearing courses at the Spring Convention for many years, he also lectured some years. Perhaps he will be best remembered at Harper Adams as the person collecting tickets for entry to the evening banquets.

Terry was always supportive at the Medway BKA and would always ask searching questions at meetings if things were not clear, but his interest was always for the clubs wellbeing. He always stewarded at the Kent County Show at Detling near Maidstone, usually providing an observation hive and managing bee demonstrations for the public.

He will be missed by all his friends in the UK, Ireland and worldwide.

Our sincere sympathy to his wife Pat, his children and grandchildren.

Terry RIP

John Hendrie