Ron Hoskins

Ronald A Hoskins, known as Ron to everyone, died on 2 July 2023. He will be keenly missed by his large family (Ron had sixteen great-grand children!), his friends and the worldwide beekeeping community.

Ron had suffered a series of heart attacks and it seems that after the last one, he decided it was time. Ron was determined not to die on the day of one of his grandchildren’s wedding, so he didn’t! A couple of days later in hospital, he took off his oxygen mask, had a last drink of his favourite ginger beer and said ‘I’ve failed my MOT and now it’s time to turn off the ignition.’ Those were his last words. He was lucid and in control right up to the end and still making his characteristic jokes!

At his funeral on on Friday 28 July at Westmill natural burial ground, a large gathering remembered Ron’s extraordinary life. He’d been keeping bees since the age of 12, that’s a beekeeping career of over 78 years. I always say, there’s nobody who knew more about beekeeping than Ron!

Ron, a Master Beekeeper, was known across the world for his pioneering work on developing the Swindon bee; a strain of honey bee that are completely resistant to the harmful effects of varroa. Ron showed how by not using chemicals, it’s possible to control the harmful effects of varroa by letting the bees do it themselves.

Ron was a generous man who shared his knowledge and experience with anybody who asked. Meridian members will remember him coming to Botley to give a talk a few years ago. Ron travelled all over Britain giving talks but he also went to Switzerland, Norway, Australia and New Zealand when he was asked.

Ron freely shared his knowledge with various scientists who went on to build on Ron’s work. It’s regrettable that Ron often didn’t get the recognition he deserved from the scientific community.

As a result of his travels across the UK, Ron persuaded many beekeepers to try his chemical free techniques. He hoped success in Varroa control would be picked up and used by as many beekeepers as possible.

Ron’s determination and dedication to his work was miraculous to all who knew him. He was working with his bees every day up until a few days before he died. It seems he had that determination throughout his life. At the burial ground, the celebrant recounted Ron’s life. One of the stories was about how Ron and one of his brothers were not happy with their wartime evacuation to Yorkshire. They walked eighty miles before being picked up by a policeman who thought they were truanting from a local school! An uncle came from London to take them home.

A more recent example of Ron’s determination was his response to the total destruction of his Swindon apiary. Vandals burnt all of Ron’s equipment and bees. Many a much younger person would have given up then, but thanks to a crowd funding campaign organised by Dave, one of Ron’s sons, over £50,000 was raised in a very short time. Donations flooded in from all over the world including from Meridian members and Ron rebuilt the apiary. Today, the apiary looks exactly the same as it did before the fire. Daily Mail.

In 1995 Ron found that the bees in one of his colonies were dislodging varroa from the other bees in the hive. He subsequently took that queen, which seemed to have a genetic trait for producing a grooming bee, and put her into another hive to see if she produced the same results. Ron found that in the second hive, the queen did produced the same results. He then took eggs from that queen to produce more queens and used artificial insemination (in order to control the male -drone – side of the equation) to produce what was later named the Swindon Bee. There is a lot of information online about Ron and his life’s work including several videos on YouTube. Here is one example:

It was found years later by one of the scientists that the Swindon bee also had a kind of immunity to Deformed Wing Virus.

Ron was an amazing and inspirational man who also trained and helped countless people over the years in the beekeeping basics. It’s reassuring to know that others will be continuing his work including his beekeeping partners and friends, Eddy and Mo.

Based on the words of Eddy Eggleston,
Ron’s beekeeping colleague and friend. BBKA.