Rolls-Royce Motor Cars Appoints Its First-Ever Junior Beekeper At Goodwood

Here is some feel-good news to start the weekend. It is also in conjunction with World Bee Day which fell on 20 May. Luxury marque, Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, not only produces opulent motor cars, they also produce magnificent honey. Last week, Rolls-Royce appointed its first-ever Junior Beekeper at its Goodwood Apiary. The decision to appoint eight-year-old Poppy Liddle from Selsey, West Sussex to this important role comes after a story in the Chichester Observer highlighted the theft of Poppy’s beloved beehive in early May.

Moved by her plight, and impressed by her pragmatic response to the outrage, Rolls-Royce arranged for her to visit the Goodwood Apiary, home to possibly the world’s best-known (and certainly most palatial) colony of English honey bees.

On Friday, 14 May, Poppy, her Dad and Step-Mum were picked up from Poppy’s school in a Rolls-Royce Ghost and chauffeur-driven to the Home of Rolls-Royce. She was then introduced to beekeeper Jason Hampton, and some of Goodwood Apiary’s 300,000 hardworking inhabitants. Poppy was also presented with a special certificate confirming her as the marque’s first-ever Junior Beekeeper, signed by Richard Carter, who combines serving as Chief Beekeeper and Director of Global Communications for Rolls-Royce Motor Cars.

“We were moved to invite Poppy to visit the Goodwood Apiary after reading in the local paper about the theft of her beehive. She is the first person ever to be made Junior Beekeeper at Rolls-Royce Motor Cars: we’ve all been incredibly impressed by her knowledge and love of bees, and we feel very lucky to have her on our team. We look forward to welcoming Poppy back to help us harvest the ‘Rolls-Royce of Honey’ later in the season,” commented Richard Carter.

To celebrate this occasion, Poppy was given a jar of ‘Rolls-Royce of Honey’ made by the Rolls-Royce bees. This honey is usually reserved exclusively for clients and other VIPs. She will be returning to the Home of Rolls-Royce later in the season when this year’s honey harvest is collected.

But in her first week of Junior Beekeper, she has already been given an extremely important and responsible task. Earlier this year, Rolls-Royce invited colleagues to act as volunteer beekeepers for the new season. As expected, the response was immediate and enthusiastic. By the closing date, over 50 people from across the company had applied for the five available vacancies. Poppy drew 10 names from a hat to create a shortlist, who will then be interviewed. The successful candidates will go on to receive apicultural training funded by Rolls-Royce.

Poppy is also part of what has just become a worldwide team, with the launch of a second Rolls-Royce Apiary in Dubai to mark World Bee Day. The worldwide event, first held in 2017, is a United Nations initiative designed to raise awareness of the global importance of bees and beekeeping in world food production, biodiversity, environmental conservation and climate change.

Like the original at the Home of Rolls-Royce, the Dubai Apiary comprises six hives named ‘Phantom’, ‘Ghost’, ‘Wraith’, ‘Dawn’, ‘Cullinan’ and ‘Spirit of Ecstasy’. Each hive, specially designed to withstand Dubai’s climate, is home to a population of around 60,000 bees, benevolently ruled by an ‘Emirati Queen’ bee generously provided by the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority.

Richard Carter said, “As enthusiastic beekeepers ourselves, we completely understand how much Poppy’s recent loss meant to her. We can’t bring back the hive that was taken, but we hope this event, and her new role, will help Poppy feel better and give her new opportunities to enjoy being with bees.”

“World Bee Day is an important event in our calendar. It represents all the values and vital issues that led us to first establish the Rolls-Royce Apiary and now our first international operation in Dubai. We are delighted to support it as part of the worldwide beekeeping community,” he added.