With the bee wall planned for school, and bees in the wider news this summer, this story about the capture of a swarm of bees seems timely. Lynne came across it as she was indexing student magazines. It comes from a student magazine called ‘Bits’ and is from the July 1978 edition.
“After lunch on Wednesday, Mark Wakefield was quietly gardening in ’54’ garden, when some bees suddenly seemed to go wild, covering the whole vegetable garden.” Graham Mounsey, Tim Pearson and Mark Wakefield watched as the bees gathered on Tim’s broad beans. Graham took a few photographs, and Mark found a book about bees, and read up on how to catch them. “A veil and gloves were recommended, so a little later Mark was clad in Wellington boots, tracksuit, gloves and a pillowcase for a veil.” Tim gave directions from the wall, as Mark shook the bees into a seed box, and put another box on top. John Gray, the Headmaster, was then told about the capture of the swarm. He lent a hive to keep them in and supervised the transfer of the bees to the hive. “Next year Mark may be selling honey, although whether it is cheaper than John Gray’s remains to be seen”.