The University of Aberdeen’s Natural History Centre is celebrating a decade of exploring the amazing living world with a special 10th birthday party today (Friday, January 20).
The Natural History Centre was established in 1995 to instil an appreciation of the natural world in people of all ages.
Since then, it has welcomed over 70,000 young visitors, who have benefited from the Centre’s creative education programme for schools and families.
As part of today’s birthday celebrations, there will be a children’s activity session in the Centre’s Education Room, from 4.30pm – 5.30pm. The children, aged between 5 to 12, will get the chance to delve into the natural world and meet some of the Centre’s inhabitants from fire salamanders to fruit beetles.
There will also be a wine reception for around 60 invited guests.
One of today’s special guest’s will be Cara Gelati, who graduated from the University of Aberdeen last summer with a Zoology degree. She visited the Centre in 1996 when she was just 10-years-old. She’s now working at Harlaw Academy as a science technician.
Professor Dominic Houlihan, Vice-Principal at the University of Aberdeen, and a co-founder of the Centre, said: “I am delighted to be celebrating the 10th anniversary of The Natural History Centre which is an invaluable resource for local schoolchildren and families.
“From the early days of a few classes a week, we now work with over 400 schoolchildren a month.
“The overwhelming success of the Centre is a real testament to the enthusiasm and commitment of our Development Co-ordinator Mandy Tulloch and her excellent team.
“The Centre is always a hive of activity and is one of the University’s most vibrant and exciting initiatives.
“It has been an amazing experience to watch the Centre develop over the past decade and I look forward to seeing it become even more successful over the next 10 years.”
Mandy Tulloch, Development Co-ordinator at the Natural History Centre, said: “The Natural History Centre’s aim has always been to encourage everyone to engage with the natural world.
“Using the University’s resources of its fantastic Zoology Museum and the ‘growing museum’ of the Cruickshank Botanic Garden, the intention is to give everyone a hands-on view of our living world.”
It was in December 1995 when Professor Ian Alexander and Professor Dominic Houlihan, the Heads of the then Plant and Soil Science and Zoology Departments, had a germ of an idea to allow the community increased access to their biological resources and collections.
This has resulted in thousands of children being able to say they’ve stood underneath a whale, explored a secret wood and used amazing microscopes to look at flowers!
Mandy continued: “We like to give the children the opportunity to handle anything from an elephant’s tooth to a wriggly worm. We liaise with teachers prior to the visit to ensure the activities we are presenting are relevant to how they are approaching the topic at school which means no two classes are the same.”
The most popular topics include: minibeasts, rainforests, the human body, nocturnal animals, vertebrates and plants and trees.
The Centre also runs workshops and special events to coincide with national and local events taking place throughout the year, including National Science Week in March, Techfest in September, and the Green City Fun Day.
Its most adventurous project to date was a month-long opening in Aberdeen’s Bon Accord Centre last summer when it ran a Shop Museum. Over 1000 people dropped in to take a break from shopping to make snail smoothies, investigate owl pellets and to balance stick insects upside down on their arms.
“All these events mean we now work with over 10,000 people every year,” said Mandy.
“We hope the future holds lots of the same enthusiasm and interest and we’re here to work with anyone and everyone with an interest in the natural world.
“There are so many ways to explore our living world – it’ll probably take the next 10 years to try them all!”
Further information about the Natural History Centre is available by calling (01224) 493288 or email: nat.hist@abdn.ac.uk, or log on to http://www.abdn.ac.uk/nhc/