HIVE TALKIN’ AT SALFORD'S HOWORTH AIR TECHNOLOGY

You’ve heard of the Bee Gees – well now there’s the Gee Bees.

Whereas the pop legends’ numerous hits included songs such as Jive Talkin’, there’s plenty of Hive Talkin’ at Howorth Air Technology.

Howorth engineer and keen beekeeper Scott Gee is helping the company to enhance the local environment after it adopted four beehives next to its assembly facility at Raven Locks in Little Hulton, Salford.

This year, Scott has reaped a bumper honey harvest totalling 800 jars from the thriving Howorth Hives.
And he has not finished there – he will soon begin making candles from the beeswax drawn from the honeycomb.

August was a key month for the production of honey, as nectar flowed in abundance from a variety of flowering plants and trees. Honeybees foraged on the likes of bramble, clover, rosebay willowherb and Himalayan balsam to bring the nectar back to the Howorth Hives.

It was also a time for the 200,000 bees in the Howorth Hives to build up their nectar supplies to sustain them during the winter.

Scott, 32, a pharmaceutical commissioning engineer at Howorth, is a member of the British Beekeepers Association and has 50 of his own hives around Warrington, where he lives. He is studying to become a master beekeeper.

He has his own brand, Crafty Bees, and sells jars of honey produced from his own hives at fairs and events, as well as from an honesty box outside his home.

Scott established the Howorth Hives with the blessing of the company and is supported with his beekeeping activities there by colleagues Ryan Ince and Mick Mortimer.

Dad-of-two Scott said:

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“The company has been really supportive by adopting four hives. Everyone appreciates just how important bees are for the environment. 

“Bees are under threat in many parts of the world. Their numbers are declining due to factors such as the loss of habitat and extensive use of pesticides.

“Every new hive of bees increases pollination, and therefore has a positive impact on the food supply chain. 

“They are also crucial to our economy – without them it would cost UK farmers a fortune a year to pollinate their crops. It’s great that Howorth is playing its part to help reverse the decline in the bee population and enhance the environment.”

 

Honey is produced when worker bees bring nectar back to the hives. They store the nectar in the honeycomb and reduce its moisture by fanning their wings, which eventually transforms it into honey.
Scott’s interest in beekeeping began in 2018 when he bought his girlfriend Sarah a Flow Hive for her birthday. The Flow Hive is an Australian invention which collects honey from a tap without the need to open the hive.

He said:

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“I became obsessed – it’s an interesting hobby and is environmentally friendly too. I’m truly grateful to Howorth for supporting me and contributing to the environment while also enabling me to produce more delicious honey.”

Howorth, which has its headquarters in Bolton, designs, manufactures and assembles ultra clean air equipment for use in operating theatres, and for the pharma, biotechnology and life science industries.
It supplies the pharma industry with containment equipment such as isolators, downflow booths and a multi-connection system to create a pure air working environment for the safe handling of active ingredients and formulations in an enclosed space, free of contaminants. 

Carlo Rava, Howorth’s pharma operations director, said:

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“Scott has set up a fantastic project at our Raven Locks facility and the company is supporting him by purchasing some of the honey. The jars of Howorth Honey make a great talking point with visiting clients, many of whom end up taking one or two home with them!”