Trustees

This page also includes an email address for each trustee as well as information about which trustees sit on which committees and who their link associations are.

Margaret Wilson: President

I  have been keeping bees now for 11 years and maintain between  5 and 8 colonies throughout the year.

After starting to keep bees I became involved in my local branch and was Treasurer for several years and am now Chairman of the Ormskirk & Croston Branch and continue to enjoy my beekeeping with likeminded people.

I became a Trustee four years ago and after my initial year  I became Vice Chair, followed by becoming Chairman which has covered the past two years. At the ADM in January 2020.  I was elected  President and  in the next years hope to continue with the developments I have been involved in at BBKA headquarters.

My experience in business has helped me to use that knowledge within the BBKA to  develop new systems and processes and I hope that this has been instrumental in the BBKA achieving  better financial management resulting in a surplus each year. This also means that the BBKA has not needed to ask  associations for an increase in capitation for the past four years.

Email here

Link trustee for: 
Cheshire;  Lancashire & NW; Manchester

Anne Rowberry: Chair 

I am committed to developing beekeeping and improving bee husbandry; I give lectures and practical demonstrations to other Associations, belonging to Avon myself. I believe strongly in getting young people involved in learning about bees and beekeeping and in encouraging an understanding of these wonderful creatures. Since taking early retirement, after a career in teaching and charity work overseas, I am able to further pursue my interests in bees and in Chelonia.

I have been a beekeeper for 12 years and run 20+ hives
During this time I have studied and passed all the modules and passed the practical exams to
become a Master Beekeeper. I have also passed the Microscopy certificate
I give lectures. practical demonstrations and have run study groups for Modules.
I am an assessor for the Basic, Bee Health. General and Advanced Husbandry exams
I set and mark papers for the modular assessments.
I have delivered courses , organised study days, and lectured Nationally and Internationally

Email here

Link trustee for:
Avon; Devon; Gwent; Isle of Man; Somerset.

Howard Pool 

Married with 4 grown children, it was my granddaughter who re-sparked my interest in beekeeping. I joined the introduction to beekeeping course run by the High Wycombe branch of the BBKA in 2013, and have kept my own bees since March 2014. Throughout my working life till subsequent retirement in 2006 I was responsible for the running and change management of a number of companies both in the UK and overseas.

I became a trustee of the BBKA at the January 2015 ADM.  Since that period we have worked hard to generate improved reporting, control, simplicity, and transparency within the finance area. 2017 showed the first surplus in the account for 4 years - and a modest improvement on budget commitments.

Email here

Link trustee for:
Buckinghamshire; Essex; Hertfordshire; Middlesex; Northamptonshire; Peterborough

Diane Drinkwater: Vice Chair

Email here

Link trustee for:
Oldham; Rutland; Norfolk, Wye Valley; Individual members.

Stephen Barnes

My first contact with honey bees was 55 years ago when my father swapped pheasant rearing for bee keeping. I helped him from time to time and went with him to conferences at Newton Rigg College. My father tolerated angry bees in the belief they were more productive and that rather put me off. I studied farm management at Harper Adams and spent 11 years in Tropical Agriculture in Papua New Guinea. On returning to the UK I became involved in the world of logistics eventually joining a logistics training company based in Carlisle.

My father passed away in 1997 and after lot of thought I decided to take up the hobby. My father’s bees were still angry and I nearly gave up. Fellow beekeepers encouraged me to stay and with a bit of re-queening and selective queen rearing I now have bees that are pleasant to work with and bees are now my main interest.

After 10 years as Cumbria delegate I decided to stop throwing brickbats and start catching them! 

Email here

Link trustee for:
Cumbria; Northern Ireland; Kendal & Westmorland; Sedbergh.

Jenny Morgan

I spent all of my working life in education. I am a Physics graduate and went into teaching after completing my teaching qualifications. I spent a short time working in secondary schools in Oxfordshire before moving to Botswana where I worked in local schools in Gaborone and Francistown before being recruited to work at the University of Botswana lecturing on B.Ed. and B.Ed. Nursing courses. After 9 years in Botswana I returned to the UK and continued to teach, becoming Head of Science and also working for University of Reading on their science teacher training course. On my return to the UK when my daughters were older I became a volunteer canoe coach and a DoE leader. As a result of these activities I lead a gold DoE expedition to Canada. My beekeeping began when my daughter kept asking for a hand with her bees. As I learned more I decided I would do an introductory course and get some bees and I have not looked back- I am hooked. I have spent a lot of time and energy trying to learn as much as possible by working alongside more experienced beekeepers, attending events and lectures and participating in training activities. I assist in the training and mentoring of beekeepers in my own association and run Modular Study groups. I have been the Education Officer for Reading Beekeepers Association for several years and in that time many more members have taken their Basic and taken Modular exams as a result of the training offered. I am a point where I am hoping to do my Advanced Husbandry and become a master Beekeeper. I want to use my time as trustee to encourage lifelong learning amongst beekeepers and to encourage more young people to take up beekeeping. I will work hard to support BBKA activities and initiatives.

Link trustee for:
Dorset; Dover; Isle of Wight; Reading; Sussex; Thanet; Vale & Downland; Wiltshire.

Gareth Morgan 

After reducing the number of days I now work and following on from a career as a professional trumpet player, I read, some fourteen years ago, about CCD in the US in a Sunday newspaper. This sparked my interest in beekeeping to where I am now.
Like most of us who started beekeeping later on in life, I wish I had started years before as they are fascinating insects and there is so much to learn. I am working towards becoming a Master Beekeeper this year (2021).
Currently, I am an assessor for the Basic Certificate and the Honey Bee Health Certificate. I also accompanied the members of England’s International Meeting of Young Beekeepers team in 2018 in Nerac, France.
I wrote the ‘In the Apiary’ monthly series for BBKA News for 2019 and have contributed to it and BeeCraft over the years. I regularly give talks and demonstrations, not only to my division but also to many outside clubs and schools in my division’s area. I also sit on my Association’s committee.
I am passionate about education in beekeeping as knowing what the bees ‘are and do’ is the way forward to becoming better beekeepers and looking after this precious species.

Email here

Link trustee for:
Salisbury; London; Slough Maidenhead & Windsor; Suffolk; Surrey; Sussex West; Twickenham & Thames Valley; Wokingham.

Suzanne Bennett 

I am delighted to be serving the BBKA for a second term as an elected trustee. The BBKA has achieved a great deal in the last three years: producing  special editions, exam modules and tutoring, the Spring Convention, balanced finances, developing research projects, launching a new constitution.   I am proud to have been involved in guiding our decisions.  Nevertheless, we can do more to enhance how we work with our members and outside bodies to continue to meet our charitable objects.

I have  over 30 years' experience in public communications  in the charity, local authority and government sector, working in scientific and educational bodies. ​I am employed as a professional facilitator and external relations specialist.   I've kept bees for over 11 years and I'm a committee member of Warwick and Leamington Beekeepers’ Association.

Email here

Link trustee for:
Burton; Chesterfield; Derbyshire; Nottinghamshire; Staffordshire South; Stratford upon Avon; Warwickshire.

John Canning

I am a recently retired GP and have been keeping bees for 6 years. For over 30 years I have been involved in organisations, at both local and national levels, which are representative and democratic. I have been particularly keen to ensure safe and accountable structures are in place to enable the organisation to concentrate on its primary objectives.

I am passionate about beekeeping, and the need for clear national representation to ensure that the BBKA provides a strong voice for honeybees and beekeepers. My experience of changing representative organisations will be helpful to the Trustees. I am also committed to ensuring that central organisations help local ones to flourish.

Email here 

Link trustee for:
Alnwick; Cambridgeshire; Cleveland; Durham; Hexham; Newcastle; Sheffield; Tyneside.

Joyce Nisbet

As an amateur beekeeper, I have fitted keeping 2-10(-ish) colonies around family, work and other commitments for over 30 years. I am also notorious for having maintained an observation hive in our living room.  For around 25 years I have been involved in the training of beekeepers in my local association and more recently (having become a Master Beekeeper in 2013) I have been a Correspondence Course Tutor and an Assessor for the BBKA Basic and General Husbandry qualifications.

Showing honey and hive products since the mid-1990s stimulated the expansion of my honey and hive product repertoire. Knowing the fun showing has given me, and keen to support shows in future, led to my qualifying as a BBKA Honey Judge in 2018.

For many years, I have also enjoyed participating in the BBKA Spring Convention and have been on its Committee since 2015. Initially I was responsible for accommodation and catering and since 2017 I have chaired the team of volunteers who form the BBKA Spring Convention Committee.

Email here

Link trustee for:
Gloucestershire; Herefordshire; Ludlow; Shropshire; Shrops North; Staffordshire; Worcestershire.

Bob Hogge

My main focus for the last 3 years has been the Asian yellow legged hornet Vespa velutina nigrithorax that is colonising Jersey. I developed a method to find their secondary nests which is showing some control and slowing their expansion.
While my experience of chairing the JBKA and other charities and associations has some relevance, it is my work on the Yellow legged hornet, Vespa velutina nigrithorax that is of the greatest value to the B.B.K.A.

Email here

Link trustee for:
Bournemouth; Cornwall; Cornwall West; Jersey.

Richard Bond

I am currently Vice-Chairman of Harrogate and Ripon BKA and have been on the Show Committee for five years. I am also involved in training new and improver beekeepers. I am on the committee of Darlington BKA and co-manage the Apiary which includes the practical training of new beekeepers. I am also joint Honey Show Secretary.
I have passed General and Advanced Husbandry and Microscopy. I have been involved with teaching Microscopy for four years. I have passed all modules except 5 & 8.
I have collected over 50 cards in various Blue Ribbon Honey Shows.
Email here

Link trustee for:
Newbury; Oxfordshire; Harrogate & Ripon; Lincolnshire; South Chilterns; West Norfolk & Kings Lynn; Yorkshire.

John Hendrie 

I have been a member of the BBKA Examinations Board for many years having been the Board Secretary from 1991 to 2006 and am currently the Moderator.
I achieved my Master Beekeeper certificate in 1986 and have been heavily involved in beekeeping education ever since, running courses and lecturing widely on bees and beekeeping.
I am the General Secretary of the National Honey Show and have been on the committee for 35 years and helped with the organisation of the honey show for that time.
I am also a Director for Bee Diseases Insurance Ltd so is looking after the interests of beekeepers.
I have demonstrated continuity in the various jobs undertaken and enjoy helping beekeepers.
Email here

Link trustee for:
Hampshire; Kent; Medway.

Committees
Please note BBKA can not answer BDI queries - please address these either to the membership secretary of your association or branch, or directly to https://www.beediseasesinsurance.co.uk/