Bee lover Claude Stratford
Claude Stratford is a living testament to the health benefits and the unique natural resources of the honeybee. Claude’s fascination with bees started as a three year old, when he had his first beehive on his parents’ property in Picton, at the top of the South Island.
At 11, Claude left school to become a commercial beekeeper. He would take the ferry to Wellington each day to sell his honey on the condition that he was home for dinner.
Claude moved to Paengaroa (in the Bay of Plenty) at age 63 to retire, but ended up founding company Comvita instead. Comvita’s natural honeybee products were alternative to other products available in the market in the early 70s. As a result, Claude was regarded as somewhat of a mad scientist who used to spend hours with a blender and his honeys.
His other products such as wholemeal flour and natural sea salt were also pioneering and it was many more years before they became mainstream products in New Zealand.
As if starting one health company in his retirement wasn’t enough, Claude left Comvita at age 88 to start a new business called Total Value Health Foods.
In 2005, Claude Stratford was nominated as a finalist for the 2005 Entrepreneur of the Year award for company Comvita Ltd. In addition, Comvita won the Environment Bay of Plenty Sustainable Business Supreme Award on 8 June 2006. Comvita’s visitor centre is also Green Globe benchmarked.
Now a cheerful 96 year-old, who still drives and works up to six days a week, Claude swears by the health properties of royal jelly. Royal jelly is a substance bees use in their hives to feed the queen and it can be sprinkled on muesli or taken in capsule form.
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