Ahead of National Bee Day, which is celebrated on Saturday 17th August,
Pytchley Court care home resident Arthur, 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 Gillett, aged 105, is the oldest resident at the HC-One owned care home, he used to be a Beekeeper and a Baker and regularly produced honey and created recipes based on the ingredients he loves.
Arthur began beekeeping in 1947 after he retired as a Railway Repairman. Arthur 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 1980's. The smoker in the picture has the Granada logo etched on it (see photo).
To mark the national date, Arthur’s fellow residents at the HC-One residential, nursing and dementia care home made scones using Arthur's recipe, which his daughter Norma Bailey shared with everyone.
The verdict was that they were delicious!
Arthur still enjoys his meal especially breakfast with a honey spread on his toast and honey mixed in his yogurt.
When asked about what his secret is to a ling life, Arthur said:
“Honey, I still enjoy honey on my meals, especially breakfast!”
Jennifer Okorie, Wellbeing Coordinator at Pytchley Court, added:
“Anticipating that National Bee Day is on the 17th of August 2024, I wanted to share the story about Arthur which is just fascinating.
He has lived an exciting life, and I will most certainly be eating more honey myself.
I think he has inspired us all!”