Herald - Issue 412

Page 8 • The HERALD • 16th September 2021 v SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL BUSINESSES v M.D.S. DIGITAL INSTALLS/SERVICE • DIGITAL AERIALS/FREEVIEW • SKY DIGITAL/FREESAT DIGITAL • EXTRA TELEVISION POINTS • TELEPHONE LINES/POINTS • TELEVISION SYSTEMS SETUP/TUNED • WALL MOUNTED TV’S QUALIFIED, FAST FRIENDLY SERVICE FREE SURVEYS/QUOTES BEAULIEU: 01590 611011 MOBILE: 07717 194441 We offer a Full Range of Carpentry and Building Services: • Full Design Service • Garage and Loft Conversions • Extensions • Fitted Kitchens and Bathrooms • Brickwork • Flat Roofs • Conservatories • PVCu Windows • Decking • Fencing, Pergolas and Gates D&G CARPENTRY & BUILDING Over 25 years experience, so for a fast and friendly service with free estimates call on 07767 833227 or 023 8089 9371 FOR QUALITY AND SERVICE • DOMESTIC AND COMMERCIAL WORKS • DISABLED FACILITIES Hardley Industrial Estate, Hythe, Southampton Telephone: (023) 8084 9999 Fax: (023) 8084 9999 • Mobile: 07836 525286 E stablished 1955 Chris Hopkins Painting, Decorating, Carpentry, Tiling Free Estimates Photographs & references available on request Telephone: 023 8081 5210 Mobile: 07986 806277 DECORATING Interior and Exterior Established 1985 07867 528307 mark.blake.decorating@gmail.com Send your local news to The Editor, The Herald, 2 High Street, Hythe SO45 6AH A BLAST FROM THE PAST Mrs Loesely & the Honeycomb by Robin Somes, Fawley & Blackfield Memories A personal, rather than historical, recollection this month. An old lady named Mrs Loesely used to live in Elm eld Lane, Calshot, behind B’s Garage. She had, to say the least, an eccentric reputation, keeping quite a number of Jack Russell terriers, and a hive of bees in her garden. Around 1983, I had taken up beekeeping myself, and a fellow beekeeping friend kindly volunteered me for the task of harvesting the honey from her hive. Unaccountably, he didn’t fancy the job himself, despite the substantial reward of £3 o ered. I duly turned up at her house, with all the beekeeping regalia, fending o the yapping Jack Russell’s and bellowing through the window to get her attention. Plainly she viewed me with deep suspicion, “Hive’s round the back, by the raspberries” , she said, slamming the door in my face. I spent a while looking round the garden, but couldn’t see a hive at all, so I hammered on the door again to ask where exactly it might be. “In the raspberry patch” , she said, and slammed the door shut again. Sure enough, the hive was buried in the middle of a 6-foot high thicket of raspberries, invisible to the outside world. How the bees got in and out, I’ve no idea, but I fought my way in, and started to open washing-up bowl. is I presented to her, a mulch of honeycomb, twigs and raspberry leaves, crawling with angry, honey-sodden bees. It was starting to attract wasps, too. “ You haven’t got very much ”, she snapped at my inadequacy. One of the dogs bit me. I didn’t get the promised £3. I retreated, and never went back. the hive. e bees were vicious, and resented my intrusion, despite the usual beekeeper’s tricks for subduing them. When I did get the hive open, my problems had only just started. Whoever collected the honey the previous year (quite possibly my “friend” - hence his own reluctance to return) had taken out the frames which hold the honeycomb, but not replaced them with new frames. So, the bees had done what bees do, lling out available space with wild comb. All I could do was hack it out with the ancient bread knife I’d brought along, brush o as many bees as possible, and dump it into an old Honeybee The Wessex Cancer Trust Sing for Life choirs have been meeting via Zoom since March 2020 and members are now very excited at the prospect of returning to live rehearsals in the autumn. Singing to themselves in front of a laptop or tablet, watching silent faces in boxes has not been very rewarding but has kept them safe and sane during the last di cult year. If you have been touched by cancer and would like to join their friendly group the Totton choir are holding sessions at Hounsdown Hall on Wednesday a ernoons. Please contact Jean on: 07790 142408, or email: sue.edmonds@ wessexcancer.org.uk e choir are also looking for a volunteer helper. If you have some singing experience and would be interested in directing the choir sometimes they would love to hear from you. Return to Singing Excitement