Michael Hughes Vice Chairperson
Vice Chairperson
Michael Hughes hails from Galway city centre but tells me he “grew up milking cows by hand and mucked out….”
As a 12 year old, Michael was a member of a local choir and sang before President John F. Kennedy, during President Kennedy’s visit to Ireland in 1963…The mathematicians of you out there will no doubt have worked out his age by the time you reach the end of this paragraph!!! Michael’s father who was away at the Irish Derby that same day, (“He loved horseracing”, more than JFK), saw the televised choir’s performance, with his son, the young Michael, in full view, standing to the side of President Kennedy, proudly singing his little heart out, for the world to see.
Keenly interested in hurling, rugby and rowing, Mike garnered an Irish Championship in rowing in 1974 and went on to serve on the National executive of Rowing Ireland as a director for 5 years, culminating in running the national rowing championships and the International Rowing Match between Ireland. Scotland, England and Wales in 2012.
Michael went onto work for the Digital Equipment Corporation for 22 years (including a 4 year spell in Clonmel with them); Michael worked in Quality Assurance Management Systems and business controls, gaining worldwide experience with the company, 4 years in Russia and 1 year in Egypt with Pepsico after that, returning to Connaught Electronics in Galway, (Automotive Electronics) remaining with the company until his retirement.
In his spare time, Michael is and was interested in aa small fruit garden. In spite of “…never having seen a bee…”, Michael constructed a WBC hive, (named after its inventor, William Broughton Carr), made from cedar. As a gardener, Michael was aware of the importance of bees as pollinators. Having missed out on a course in beekeeping previously, he rose to the challenge when he got a phone call to attend a course on beekeeping with Dr. Brendán Coughlan as tutor. Michael took up the opportunity; the cedar hive was still empty and needed to be populated with bees! It never happened, the WBC became a show exhibit at garden festivals and other more common hives were made for the girlfriends.
Michael sourced his bees from Wexford, and like so many of us in our first year of beekeeping, these bees did not survive. Michael went on to source his second colony of bees from South Tipperary and to this day, Michael tells me that he continues to have a good relationship with South Tipperary Beekeepers.
Michael is married to Breda and they have 3 grown up children; one daughter who lives in Manchester with six children; a son based in Denmark working as a Physicist who has two more of Michael and Breda’s grandchildren; and thinking ahead of hefting those supers, one daughter who remains at home as he says…. “to help with consuming the honey….!!!”
Michael Hughes hails from Galway city centre but tells me he “grew up milking cows by hand and mucked out….”
As a 12 year old, Michael was a member of a local choir and sang before President John F. Kennedy, during President Kennedy’s visit to Ireland in 1963…The mathematicians of you out there will no doubt have worked out his age by the time you reach the end of this paragraph!!! Michael’s father who was away at the Irish Derby that same day, (“He loved horseracing”, more than JFK), saw the televised choir’s performance, with his son, the young Michael, in full view, standing to the side of President Kennedy, proudly singing his little heart out, for the world to see.
Keenly interested in hurling, rugby and rowing, Mike garnered an Irish Championship in rowing in 1974 and went on to serve on the National executive of Rowing Ireland as a director for 5 years, culminating in running the national rowing championships and the International Rowing Match between Ireland. Scotland, England and Wales in 2012.
Michael went onto work for the Digital Equipment Corporation for 22 years (including a 4 year spell in Clonmel with them); Michael worked in Quality Assurance Management Systems and business controls, gaining worldwide experience with the company, 4 years in Russia and 1 year in Egypt with Pepsico after that, returning to Connaught Electronics in Galway, (Automotive Electronics) remaining with the company until his retirement.
In his spare time, Michael is and was interested in aa small fruit garden. In spite of “…never having seen a bee…”, Michael constructed a WBC hive, (named after its inventor, William Broughton Carr), made from cedar. As a gardener, Michael was aware of the importance of bees as pollinators. Having missed out on a course in beekeeping previously, he rose to the challenge when he got a phone call to attend a course on beekeeping with Dr. Brendán Coughlan as tutor. Michael took up the opportunity; the cedar hive was still empty and needed to be populated with bees! It never happened, the WBC became a show exhibit at garden festivals and other more common hives were made for the girlfriends.
Michael sourced his bees from Wexford, and like so many of us in our first year of beekeeping, these bees did not survive. Michael went on to source his second colony of bees from South Tipperary and to this day, Michael tells me that he continues to have a good relationship with South Tipperary Beekeepers.
Michael is married to Breda and they have 3 grown up children; one daughter who lives in Manchester with six children; a son based in Denmark working as a Physicist who has two more of Michael and Breda’s grandchildren; and thinking ahead of hefting those supers, one daughter who remains at home as he says…. “to help with consuming the honey….!!!”
