It's genetic

Jack and Ted Woods started beekeeping in 1922 after both being wounded at Gallipoli in Turkey in 1918. They called the new company Woods Bros. Honey. In 1946 Ted Woods retired from beekeeping. By 1947 Robert Woods had joined his father Jack in the family business. He was followed in 1949 by his brother Bill. Jack finally retired in 1953 and left the boys to work in the business. A second set of brothers now ran Woods Bros.

Their main honey product in those days was Clover Honey. Hives were located north to Scargill, Omihi and west to the Cass Basin in the Southern Alps of New Zealand. Hive numbers reached 1800 hives.

Honey was sold in 10lb tins. Their brand included both Woods Bros 'Beeline Honey' as well as 3 Bees Creamed Honey.

The life of beekeeping wives was challenging in these early days. With up to a third of beekeeper families developing sensitivity to bee stings and in some cases experiencing anaphylactic shock, early day remedies left something to be desired. Kay Woods describes being told by her doctor to just go to bed while herself experiencing severe shock reactions to a bee-sting. No effective medicine was to hand.

Business was maintained at a good rate until it was sold in 1969. At this point the Woods family had been in business 47 years, close to half a century. Both groups of brothers had made two very solid working partnerships over that time.

Parallel to this familial succession, Uncle Peter Woods had also started keeping bees in Wakari, North Canterbury in 1945. He exported his own pots to the South Pacific but the bulk of the New Zealand exports (UK and Europe) were handled on a national basis by a government agency based in Auckland. His honey was traded under the “Double Bee” brand (once one of several brands originally under the Woods Bros name). He sold his honey to Christchurch shops and local grocers including bigger companies such as Frank A Cook.

In his final year of beekeeping his production was 28 tons (a very good year indeed). Peter said that in an average year he could expect 4 tons for every 100 hives but that each hive needed about 60 lbs of honey to “winter through”. He had his own packing plant and had jars produced locally in Christchurch. He produced mainly creamed honey using fine grain honey following normal methods.

Included amongst the pictures is one of Michael's Grandad. Blinded in Turkey during the war, he sits with his beekeeping brothers in their pride and joy, a classic Model T ford paid for by their income as beekeepers.