AHEAD of National Bee Day, which is celebrated today (Saturday), HC-One’s Pytchley Court Care Home resident Arthur Gillett has been showing colleagues photos from his past when he was a beekeeper and talking about his love of honey saying it has been the secret to his long life.
Arthur, aged 105, is the oldest resident living at Pytchley Court. He used to be a beekeeper and a baker, regularly producing honey and creating recipes based on the ingredients he loves.
Arthur began beekeeping in 1947 after he retired as a railway repairman. He was the president of the Lancashire and North Wales Bee-keeping Association and, at the age of 75, he was known as ‘King Bee’.
He received 18 awards in a horticultural event at Southport Flower Show and regularly featured in the local newspapers following his success and passion for beekeeping.
One of the highlights of Arthur’s career was when the ITV northern broadcasting channel, Granada, took a photograph of Arthur and then produced an artist’s impression of him. This was used to display the opening screen for weather for the whole month of August, sometime in the early 1980s. The smoker in the picture has the Granada logo etched on it.
To mark the national date, Arthur’s fellow residents at the HC-One residential, nursing and dementia care home made scones using his recipe, which his daughter Norma Bailey shared with everyone. The verdict was that they were delicious.
Arthur still enjoys his meals especially breakfast with a honey spread on his toast and honey mixed in his yogurt.