About
In this episode Gyles & Aphra Brandreth meet Gladstone Ewart Franklin Solomon, a beekeeper living in Tobago, who shares his passion for bees and honey. Find about Bees for Development, a global charity which has helped some of the world’s poorest people become self-sufficient through beekeeping for over 30 years. With poems from poet Maria Bristol-Darlington, including a very special poem penned whilst recording this episode!
Episode guests
Gladstone Ewart Franklin Solomon
Gladstone is the co-owner and manager of Solomon Apiaries, Mesopotamia, Tobago. He is a trustee of the Bees for Development Trust, a global charity which has helped some of the world’s poorest people become self-sufficient through beekeeping for over 30 years.
Maria Bristol-Darlington
Maria Bristol-Darlington was born in Trinidad but made her home in Tobago, having moved there with her parents and siblings. She started writing at the tender age of eight and credits her love for writing to her love for reading which was fostered by her parents.
Some of her early works included poems, jingles, essays and short stories. She was a primary school teacher for over thirty-nine plus years and retired as a Vice Principal of one of the largest Primary Schools on the island of Tobago. She has one sister and three brothers and is the ‘baby’ of the family. She is the proud mother of three children: two sons and one daughter and the loving and supportive grandmother of five – three grandsons and two granddaughters.
She writes on a variety of themes, but religious ones are her specialty. She has composed several pieces for church functions that cater for children. She now writes speeches, eulogies, poems, songs, hymns and short stories. She holds a Bachelor of Education in Language Arts and a Masters in Health Promotion from The University of the West Indies. She hopes to pursue her Doctorate in the near future and to publish her long awaited book.
She is the member of several organizations namely: Scarborough Methodist Church’s Ambassadors for Christ, Executive member of the Lou Williams Tobago Aqua Joggers Club, Executive member of Tobago Writers’ Guild, Tobago First Boys’ Brigade and Girls Association in the rank of Lieutenant and the Trinidad and Tobago Association of Retired Persons. She loves acting, singing, drawing and painting, cake decorating and ballroom dancing. She is heavily involved in charity work. She is known for her signature smile and is affectionately called “Sunshine” by family and friends due to its brilliance!
