Queen's Birthday Honours: Beekeeper recognised

Geoffrey Hopkinson was stung dozens of times when his cousin was moving bees in 1948

A veteran beekeeper is among those from Staffordshire named in the Queen's Birthday Honours list.

Geoffrey Hopkinson, 84, from Walton-on-the-Hill, will receive the British Empire Medal (BEM) for services to beekeeping and environmental education.

Mr Hopkinson said he was delighted for himself, his family and his friends.

People appointed MBE include the founder and chief executive of EG Solutions plc, Elizabeth Ann Gooch, for services to financial services.

Mr Hopkinson took up beekeeping regularly despite a rough first experience when he was stung dozens of times as his cousin was moving bees in 1948.

'Folk hero'

He said: "I got 60-odd stings... My mother didn't recognise me when I came through the door. I went to bed, slept for 24 hours and then I got up the next day - beekeeping was for me.

"I was actually a bit of a folk hero because word got around that 'Geoff Hopkinson nearly got killed yesterday'.

"I thought 'the bees are not going to beat me'."

Mr Hopkinson added that as a beekeeper "you meet a lot of interesting people here and abroad".

He said: "You have your disappointments, you have your thrills, you have your successes, you get your first prize at the honey shows."

Other people appointed MBE include Whittington and Fisherwick Environment Group chair Michael Kinghan for services to sustainability and biodiversity in Staffordshire and the West Midlands.

Stafford School of Dance principal Winifred Patricia Lewis, for services to dance, Ivy Elsie Stone, for charitable services in Penkridge, and PC Eileen Banton, from Derbyshire Constabulary, for services to the community, were among those also appointed MBE.