TV star Bill goes abuzz for Valentine

TV star Bill goes abuzz for Valentine

2 November 2016

A KILLINCHY woman has pulled off a Northern Ireland first by winning the Province’s top beekeeping awards at the same time.

Valentine Hodges, a member of Killinchy and District Beekeepers Association,  has won Northern Ireland Beekeeper of the Year from both the Ulster Beekeepers Association (UBKA) and the Institute of Northern Ireland Beekeepers (INIB).

Valentine is the only beekeeper in the long history of both Associations to have won the top award in the same year.

Valentine became a beekeeper in 2007 and in a short space of time was “volunteered”  onto the committee of the  local Association,  initially as the press officer and the following year was elected Chairwoman, a position she held for three years. 

During this period the Association more than doubled in size and moved venue to accommodate the ever growing membership. 

Valentine is actively involved in the education system,  teaching new and intermediate beekeepers. She also operates a popular programme of visits to local primary schools, often with bees in a demonstration hive which leaves the children fascinated. 

The winner has had success at various honey shows in the honey class as well as products from the hive and wax candles.

Valentine is one of very few full time beekeepers in Northern Ireland, operating over 60 colonies of native black bees on the Ards Peninsula and is very involved in the quest to make the Ards Peninsula a conservation area for the native bee.  

She has forged a unique working relationship with the National Trust at Mount Stewart which compliments the Trust’s mission to promote native species.

In her full time role as a beekeeper Valentine has developed a range of approved skin friendly cosmetics all based on beeswax and honey which she markets on-line and in Saint George’s market every Sunday.