I had hoped to share lots of photos from Beekeeper Thomas' wedding, when he married his long term sweetheart Christina. (By the way that is not Christina in the photo with Thomas. It is Claire, who represented The Raw Honey Shop at the wedding, with the card from the Raw Honey Shop, which many of you wrote a message for.)
But unfortunately recent events have cast a shadow over that.
Anyway, first of all let me say that Thomas and Christina were absolutely delighted with the messages from Raw Honey Shop customers in the Wedding Card we created.
Here is a lovely one of the couple, after stepping out of the church.
I had hoped to also share a picture of Thomas and Christina with the card. In Greece a lot of photos are done a few days after the wedding, and that was the plan on this occasion, as the wedding day is so busy.
But unfortunately, events overtook this plan.
You may have received my email about Storm Daniel, which hit two days after the wedding and wreaked absolute havoc in Thessaly, where Thomas and Christina live. Here's a report from The Guardian.
It drowned 300 of Thomas’ hives, which is more than half of his total hives. In this photo you can see some of the hives floating in the water in the distance.
This is the worst disaster in living memory there. The flooding has devastated the lives of tens of thousands of people, especially the farmers and beekeepers.
Thomas has lost virtually all the bees in those 300 hives. Many hives had honey he had not yet extracted - which will have been ruined by the floods.
Thomas sent this video, just after the storm.
People’s livelihoods are under threat because of this disaster.
In response we are launching an appeal for Thomas and his family - so they can replace hives and buy new bee colonies.
If you are able to help and haven’t already clicked to help in one of the emails I sent about the disaster then contact us via info@therawhoneyshop.com or call in on 01273 682109.
I will send you the donation link when we have a clear idea from Thomas as to to the exact help he needs and how much that is going to cost.
At the moment he is trying to recover hives from the flooded area, but what he is finding is not good. Virtually all the bees drowned in the storm, which came at night when they in their hives. At the moment, Thomas has had to retreat as the stench is overwhelming from rotting vegetation and cattle and sheep who drowned.
Tim - Raw Honey Shop Owner
