Peter Norris has been involved in beekeeping for 35 years. Whilst living in London he took up beekeeping as a hobby and attended Merrist Wood Agricultural College to gain enough knowledge to keep his bees properly.

Two years later his hobby had grown to 150 hives, but when varroa struck in the UK in 1992, 80% of the bees in the south of the UK were lost and Peter’s hobby crashed to 25 hives.

When he returned to Tassie in 1999, he had no intention of becoming commercial in beekeeping, but got involved in the political fight to save the leatherwood resource from the clearfell, burn and sow practices of Forestry Tasmania (now Sustainable Timber Tasmania). He gradually became more involved in the bees and now runs 800+ hives with wife Trisha and two employees Lionel and Theresa at Heritage Honey in Moonah. Peter has always been an early adopter and recently trialled the poly-styrene hives from Finland. He was so impressed with the benefits the extra insulation brought to the bees that he is changing the whole operation over to these hives.

Purpose:

Honorary membership may be conferred on a living citizen of any state in Australia whose contribution to beekeeping community or a closely related field is so outstanding that it is of lasting importance to the advancement of the whole field of beekeeping community. It is intended to reflect honour upon the Derwent Valley Beekeeper Association as well as upon the individual.

Criteria for selection:

  • To be eligible for honorary membership, a person should be so outstanding that there can be no question about their suitability.
  • The designation should recognize the contribution of an individual per se, rather than that of an individual representing the accomplishments of many.
  • The person elected to honorary membership should be of such calibre as to reflect honour upon Derwent Valley Beekeeper Association by this designation.
  • Honorary membership should be conferred because of a contribution of more than passing interest and of more than local or regional achievement. The contribution may be to beekeeping or to a closely related field.
  • The recipient may be a beekeeper or a person in a related field.
  • All nominated honorary members must be voted on by the association members.
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