Taste for Honey

Beryl Armstrong's father makes bee-keeping look so easy in this wonderful award-winning film - but he does know what he's doing!

Beryl Armstrong's award-winning colour film about bee-keeping shows, her father, demonstrating, in sequence, how he constructs the frames and wax sheets for that year's production. Tending the hive, without a protective veil, he removes emerging rival queens and drones, thus increasing honey production. At summer's end, he removes the frames and combs, now filled with honey, and using an centrifugal extractor, spins the honey out into a collecting pot.

New Zealand born Beryl Armstrong received a Certificate of Merit for this particular film from the Sussex Film Festival, which showcased regional amateur films. Her considerable output of films captured many aspects of rural life in Sussex and Hampshire, from the 1960s to the 1990s. Beryl began making films while she was living in India and over the years entered many of her films into local amateur festivals and competitions. She also taught her sons Richard and Anthony, who often appeared in her films, the art of filmmaking. Both went on to create their own collections of amateur short documentaries, comedies and animations. Beryl is also the successful author of twelve published novels.