Most of my beekeeping, I used the traditional “Woodman” veil.
Though you could pull it off your hat and squash it down around your neck when driving between apiaries, it wasn’t ever very comfortable. Having said that, I bought a new one so that ‘visitors’ to the apiary could have their own veil.
But I got sold on the veil made by B.J. Sherriff, and I still have one of the first ones I ever got.
Brian and Pam Sherriff came out to NZ a number of times, and stayed with me in the middle 1980s. Brian told some great stories!
He ‘invented’ the veil as a result of not liking stings much after he decided to buy a heap of beehives. None of the bee veils suited him, so he and Pam made their own. They were, after all, the owners of a brassiere factory, believe it or not! So they had access to materials and serious sewing expertise.
At this point, Brian would reach in his pocket and pull out what looked like a handkerchief – but it was in fact a miniature bra attached to his business card, and folded so that one of the ‘peaks’ would stick out of his pocket.
So Brian and Pam started making a range of veils with the unique zipper across the throat (I used to call it a “throat-slitter veil”) so you can unzip and throw the veil over your head, out of the way until you’re ready for it again. To my mind, they make some of the best veils around, for hobbying or commercial beekeepers. I think they have been heavily immitated – but I’m proud to say mine was made in the UK by the BJ Sherriff company. I’m not sure when I got it – early 1980s for sure…
When I saw the labels on this, it made me curious. So I did a bit of looking to realise that though Pam had died some years back, Brian lived until August 2022, into his 90s. I emailed their daughter, who runs the company now, located in Cornwall, UK.
She related how much Brian and Pam liked travelling the world to beekeeping meetings!
I’m proud to still have one of his early veils to wear in my new beekeeping endeavour…