For over forty-seven years, commercial bee farmer, Brian Sherriff has been designing and hand cutting his beekeeping suits from the back yard of his commercial bee farm near Mylor.
From designing a Beekeepers Protective suit and veil for their own personal use on their Commercial Honey Farm in 1968, to supplying beekeepers the length and breadth of Britain and worldwide, Brian and his late wife, Pat Sherriff and now his daughter, Angela Sherriff have made Sherriff bee suits a real success story.
Their clients include the Queen’s beekeeper, John Chapple, Breakfast TV’s Bull Turnbull and Brian’s iconic suits have recently been featured on the television as Martha Kearney (Radio Four) presented a programme about her bees in her iconic Sherriff powder blue suit.
But forty years ago things didn’t look so rosy, when Brian’s factory, having been in full production manufacturing thousands of bikinis and swimwear for a leading fashion store, suddenly had the order cancelled due to the British Summer, which didn’t materialize. This contributed to the downfall of three generations in the Lingerie business.
With his factory in decline, Brian and Pat visited the Royal Cornwall Show and spent a long time in the Bees and Honey Marquee and left having ordered a couple of hives. Brian received some good instruction from a local beekeeper and the hives and bees arrived quickly soon after and Brian tried to find a protective garment to keep bee stings at bay. This was at this time a very tall order, which resulted in Pat stepping in to try and design a garment.
Incorporating, the haberdashery and fabric from the lingerie business, Pat came up with an integral hood attached to a smock and included some over-trousers. The first design worked well and when other beekeepers saw Brian’s all over protection they asked if they could have one too. Initially, these were supplied gratis but Brian and Pat soon had the idea to market the two-piece bee suit, as they thought other beekeepers were probably searching for overall protection. Being designed by beekeepers for beekeepers has lead to many useful design features like thumb loops to hold the cuff down when pulling on gloves and the re-design of the hood to be able to have the mesh the correct distance from the eyes, so that bee brood can be spotted clearly.
Brian’s hobby soon grew in to a commercial affair, when he bought 400 hives from a commercial beekeeper in Scotland – on transporting them home the axle went on the trailer and the bees remained in an AA depot until Brian managed to emphasise the urgency of getting his bees home alive! Brian and Angela retain their love of bees, although a few years ago they sold nearly all their hives, as the bee suit business expanded leaving them little or no time to care for their bees.
Their innovative hooded veil design proved extremely popular and over the years, Brian and Angela have developed a full range of bee veils attached to their own design vest, smock, jacket and full coverall-boiler suit, to this day Sherriff’s are considered the Rolls Royce of beekeepers protection.
Beekeeping is not just a past time for adults, as Brian and Angela produce children’s two-pieces and a scaled down Junior version of their Original Apiarist suit for 10-12 year olds, making beekeeping accessible to the whole family. http://bjsherriff.co.uk/product/childs-two-piece-bee-suit-buttermilk/
A national rise in beekeeping has been prompted by the worrying decline in honey bee numbers. There are a number of factors which affect this including habitat loss, climate change, parasites and use of pesticides, particularly neonicotinoids. It has been a worrying time for our stripy friends who pollinate a staggering variety of plants and flowers relied upon in our food chain.
Having supported the beekeeping industry for almost half a century, there is now quite a following for the B J Sherriff suits. The company still hand make all their suits in Cornwall and use just a few master craftswomen and men who are able to craft the intricate netted hoods into perfect bee free sealed units and over fifteen years ago, Angela Sherriff pictured in the peach coloured Apiarist Suit released a new line in coloured protective apparel, which range from candyfloss pink, powder blue to lime green.
Primarily a Mail Order business, with all the many parcels being dispatched from their local village Post Office in Perranwell Station, they also attend many beekeepers conventions and events around the world. The business incorporates two of their main interests, beekeeping and travel, with many of their designs, special fabrics and colours being tested in apiaries at home and abroad.
With the feedback from professional and hobbyist beekeepers alike, B J Sherriff are at the forefront of the industry and have taken beekeepers protective clothing in to another dimension. They were the first to introduce khaki green, primarily for pollinating kiwi fruit at night by New Zealand beekeepers, along with pastel shades and certain reds, which the bees do not see – beekeeping needn’t be dull!
On the back of the success of their core products, Angela has developed a vast Beekeeping Accessories range, which includes smokers, hive tools and wax making equipment, along with a popular Beekeepers Starter Kit.
http://bjsherriff.co.uk/product/sk-w-starter-kit-white-suit/
An extensive Bee Gift range also sells worldwide incorporating many of her designs.
Angela and the team will be exhibiting at the National Honey Show in Weybridge, Surrey 29th October – 31st October2015. The B J Sherriff suits are available online at http://bjsherriff.co.uk
