Roy's bee keeping experience

Roy Powney, 78, from Exeter has been honing his bee keeping skills on Princesshay’s rooftop garden which is home to five hives and more than 60,000 bees.  

Through Age UK Exeter, Princesshay’s Charity of the Year, Roy has been visiting the roof top garden every Thursday since April. Working alongside Jason Wallis, head bee keeper for Princesshay, Roy has been closely involved in caring for the bees which has been a passion of his from a young age.

Princesshay’s city bee project, now in its third year, continues to thrive on the roof tops of the busy Exeter shopping centre.  

Before Roy retired, he was the owner of a market garden and his love for the outdoors continued to grow. His work with the Princesshay bees has been a valuable addition to his social activity. 

Roy comments, “I love looking after the bees in Princesshay. I started working with the bees at the beginning of the season and love seeing how they have developed through the year. I am looking forward to extracting the honey and seeing all the hard work pay off. I’ve had a little taste of the honey already and it’s delicious!”

Roy continues: “Seeing the Queen bee develop and watching the young bees grow has been a real treat. It’s all so interesting to me. I also really like to feed the bees, they love a mixture of water and sugar and it seems to keep them very happy. My interest in bees started when I was on a walk with my mother when I was a young boy and I saw a hive. My mother’s passions and interest in bees quickly rubbed off on me and I was soon hooked!”

Roy heard about the Princesshay bee project through his Age UK Exeter enabler Sally Richards. Roy has received valuable support from Age UK Exeter for over 12 years. Sally has been helping Roy for 3 years, assisting him with his day to day duties, including responding to letters, accompanying him on his weekly shop and providing a friendly face and someone to talk to.

Sally Richards of Age UK Exeter said, “Working with Roy is great because he knows what he wants in life and I can help him achieve it and he makes a good cup of tea! The Princesshay bee project has given Roy it an opportunity to take part in one of his favourite past times and helps him maintain his independence.”

The city bee project was initiated by Andy Littlejohns, Princesshay’s operations manager who was inspired to launch it after watching a television programme on the decline of the honey bee and the subsequent impact on the environment. The successful project is now producing over 100lb of honey, which is available to buy from Chandos Deli in Princesshay with proceeds donated to Age UK Exeter.