Big bangs and bold ideas
The Darwin Festival promises to inspire, entertain and stimulate the minds of people of all ages from 11th – 19th February in 2012. The festival offers an imaginative series of talks, experiments, walks and shows including a tour of Darwin’s garden in Shrewsbury in the company of TV naturalist Nick Baker; informal discussions at Shrewsbury Coffee House with leading scientists; a showing of an enthralling film, Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo and opportunities for children to handle real dinosaur bones and ancient fossils.
“The festival captures the spirit of Darwin’s curiosity and excitement about the world,” said Sara Bellis, People & Wildlife Officer at Shropshire Wildlife Trust, who arranged the programme of events.“We are bringing together scientists, artists, authors, film-makers and wildlife experts to explore ideas in a really exciting and approachable way.”
As well as a tour round Darwin’s garden, Nick Baker will give a speech to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Shropshire Wildlife Trust, talking about the early influences that shaped him and the ways in which we can inspire a new generation of naturalists.
The events are being staged by a variety of organisations including Shrewsbury’s Museum on the Move, Enginuity, the Field Studies Council, the National Trust and Shropshire Wildlife Trust with guest appearances including Dr Jeremy Pritchard from Birmingham University, Jim Endersby, author of the prize-winning ‘A guinea pig’s history of biology’ andthe Animal Man, with his collection of bearded dragons, tarantulas, snakes and chinchillas.
You can download a pdf of the Darwin Festival events guide or explore the events on individual pages in the What's on section.
