FROM BRAS TO BEES
Born in the Clifton area of Bristol, Brian’s family were corset manufacturers, with a factory that originally opened in 1816.
His father, Jack, ran the company. He had manufactured clothing for women involved in war work during the First World War.
During the Second World War, the company designed panty girdles for the WRNs and WAAFs.
As a boy, Brian remembered the Bristol Blitz. He could recall seeing blazing buildings and smoke everywhere but also hearing the lions howling in the zoo.
In 1941, Brian was sent to a boarding school in Somerset for safety reasons. He remembered spending hours paddling his canoe on the River Avon, when he should have been studying.
Brian expected he would be called up for military service and was trained in how to use a Sten gun. However, the war finished a couple of days before his seventeenth birthday.
He still had to do National Service, joining the RAF as a radio operator.
After two years, Brian returned home to join the family firm. By now, his father had moved the underwear factory to Camborne in Cornwall.
Brian served an apprenticeship in the cutting room, earning £1-a-week, before moving to London to become a trainee manager in a Marks and Spencer’s shop.
To keep himself amused, Brian taught himself square dancing, using just one book as a guide.
He was also obsessed by the circus, visiting as often as he could.
Returning to work for his father, Brian decided to take up Spanish. He enrolled for a course at a local technology college. There, he met Patricia Harvey. They were married within a year.
Patricia (always known as Pat), came to share his love of square dancing.
Together they formed ‘Bryan Sherriff and his Square Dancing Posse’ (He deliberately spelt his forename wrongly so as to keep distance from his day job). They performed at clubs and fetes.
Brian was the caller. He would always start with the words, “Rustle up your pards and join the fun…Yippee, it sure is mighty fine.”
When his father retired, Brian took over the running of the underwear factory. He moved it to Falmouth.
The company went from strength to strength. They diversified, making swimwear, military uniforms and clothes for Marks and Spencers.
Then Brian decided to concentrate on making bras. Quickly, they became the biggest producers of that item in the country.
When asked about the bra, he said it was guaranteed to fit – “As long as you’re the right size.”
As a conversation starter, Brian designed his own calling card. It poked out of his top pocket just like a handkerchief.
When it was pulled out, it was shaped like a bra. He called it the ‘Bra-Kerchief’.
He was thrilled when comedian Tommy Cooper ordered four hundred of these.
Although they were a very successful business in the 1960s, by the Seventies everything went wrong.
A series of bad summers meant sales dropped rapidly and cheaper items coming in from abroad meant Brian was struggling to compete.
A very large order for summer wear was cancelled mid-order, and the company went bust.
Shortly afterwards Brian and Pat visited the Royal Cornwall Show. They went into the Bees and Honey Marquee – and Brian was captivated. He bought two hives and after getting advice from a local beekeeper, took up the hobby.
Despite wearing the protective gear, traditional hat and veil, Brian kept getting stung.
The final straw was when their daughter, Angela was stung and suffered an allergic reaction.
Pat set about designing a new beekeeping helmet for Brian. They made it from materials that were lying about in their factory – boning, netting and material for swimming costume gussetts.
Suddenly, Brian was stung no more.
The helmet won a competition at the Royal Cornwall Show.
Then, they put an advert in ‘The British Bee Journal and Beecraft’ magazine – and the orders rolled in.
Brian and Pat went on to design a full body suit and called it ‘The Commercial’.
They created a new company called BJ Sherriff, with a sheriff’s badge as its logo. All their suits were handmade and they started employing local people again.
They advertised their outfits as ‘No Hat Needed’ suits.
Brian was the consummate salesman: humorous, sociable and charming.
The company really took off after an exhibition at the 1978 National Honey Show. It was considered that they had revolutionised the beekeeping equipment industry.
To celebrate, Brian bought four hundred hives from Scotland for his personal use. He said that he had gone, “From bras to bees.”
Brian and Pat developed the South Cornwall Honey Farm.
Very quickly, he began to be regarded as an expert in the beekeeping world. Brian was the first person to discover That dark colours make bees more aggressive, but pal colours, or certain shades of red, have no effect on them.
This led Brian to design a best-selling red beekeepers suit.
Brian’s beloved wife Pat, died after an asthma attack in 1999.
Her position in the company was taken by their daughter, Angela. She said, “Every Sherriff needs a Deputy.”
Brian had a biography written by Felicity Notley. It contained lots of practical advice for beekeepers and was called ‘From Bras to Bees’.
By now, BJ Sheriff’s products were being sold around the world. One satisfied customer called his products, “The Rolls-Royce of bee suits.”
Notable clients included Martha Kearney, newsreader Bill Turnbull and John Chapple, the Queen’s beekeeper.
Brian died aged ninety-four but his company continues without him, run by daughter Angela and her husband, Ron.
RIP – Redesigning Items (that) Protect
