Tree O'Clock!

Over the weekend of 4th-6th December Hainford & Frettenham Scouts stayed in the hall. This is a long standing booking (going back 25 years +) and each year the group do conservation work on the estate. This year the beavers, cubs and scouts joined in with the BBC Breathing Places Tree O'Clock event. Pictures and more info are on the video below.

Sponsor a Tent at Whitwell Hall!

Would you like to appear on Whitwell Hall's website as a sponsor and get a free team building day?

We are looking for companies, schools or individuals to sponsor a tent at Whitwell Hall. Each year, Whitwell updates and improves its large tent stock for the upcoming season to ensure that groups have a great (and dry!) time when they visit the centre on a camping trip. This is a large expense for a charity of Whitwell’s size and is a significant drain on it's finances. We are hoping for donations of £350 which will enable Whitwell to purchase a brand new 12ft patrol tent. In return, your organisation's name will be advertised on our website and on a sponsor’s board at the Centre itself. We are also offering a free team building day at Whitwell Hall, lead by centre staff, for a group of upto 30 people from your organisation.

If you think you can help Whitwell continue to provide enjoyable and valuable camping experiences for children then please contact:

Kevin Hart – 01603 870875 or info@whitwellhall.org

Whitwell Hall Country Centre Bonfire Night

On 5th November 2009, Whitwell Hall hosted a Bonfire Night party to say thankyou to people who had helped the charity over the previious year. The evening was a great success and everybody present had a 'rocketing' good time!

Squirrel Update

An update on the squirrel situation at Whitwell Hall!

Currently the enclosure is home to just Storm & Twizzle, our breeding pair. Both are looking fit and healthy and are busy preparing for the winter!

Our first litter of Squirrels in 2009 (Vector and Velocity) have been paired with a male from Kelling Heath and a female from Pensthorpe. These four squirrels, along with four others from the breeding programme have gone for release in two secret locations on Anglesey.

The summer litter was originally thought to include just two kittens. However as the squirrels became older and more adventurous a further two young were spotted. These four kittens have since been taken to Pensthorpe where the two females will go for release and the two males will be re-homed within the squirrel breeding project.

Due to the success of the enclosure in 2009 we are looking into the possibility of extending the squirrel enclosure further into the wildlife garden, with the hope of potentially housing a second breeding pair in the future.

Adam Hills Whitwell Hall Donation

Adam Hills is a successful Australian comedian who is famous for his catchphrase "go you big red fire engine!" During a show in Cambridge recently I was “lucky enough” to be spotted by Adam Hills arriving five minutes late to his show. He thanked me for coming and then went through a recap of the bits I’d missed. He asked me a few questions, one of which was “where do you work?” This question received a loud groan from the group I had gone to the show with as they have heard this explanation on so many occasions, each one taking, in their eyes, a long time to get through as working at Whitwell and the job we do often being hard to explain. Adam Hills responded to this by asking me to come on stage, take the mic and explain to the audience what I do at Whitwell. Two hundred people laughed, cheered and applauded as I explained what Whitwell Hall is and what we do.

At the end of the show Adam Hills explained that he would be selling t-shirts in the lobby after the show and that for the duration of this tour all the profit from t-shirt sales would be donated to a local charity picked on the night. Upon asking for a local charity I raised my hand and suggested Whitwell. He liked this idea, it got a cheer from the crowd and at the end of the night I was given £165 donation to Whitwell Hall from the sales of the t-shirts. He also signed a poster to Whitwell Hall and posed for a photograph. A really good comedian and a top bloke on top!

Richard

Baby Boom!

Storm & Twizzle (left), our pair of adult Red Squirrels, have given birth to a pair of kittens!

This is the second litter of 2009 following the arrival of Vector & Velocity in February. The kittens were first spotted on 28th July looking fairly steady on their feet. The date of birth for the two new arrivals is around the 1st June.

The two young are both looking healthy and are learning to climb, leap and crack a nut from mum and dad. Vector & Velocity are both healthy and will soon be moved to Banham Zoo to be micro chipped and then relocated.

We are currently trying to name the two kittens. We have previously named our squirrels with a weather theme and have had squirrels called, Storm, Thunder and Lightning. If you can think of a suitable name that is weather (or geography related) and that begins with the letter V (all kittens from 2009 have a name beginning with V so we can tell how old they are) then please leave a comment below the blog!

Whitwell Hall receives LOTC award!

Whitwell Hall is now the proud owner of the Learning Outside the Classroom (LOtC) quality badge.

The LOtC badge is aimed at organisations that provide learning opportunities for children from 0-19 outside of a classroom environment. It is awarded to LOtC providers who offer high quality learning and teaching experiences and manage risk effectively.

"The Learning Outside the Classroom (LOtC) Quality Badge provides for the first time a national accreditation combining the essential elements of provision – learning and safety – into one easily recognisable and trusted Quality Badge for all types of Learning Outside the Classroom provider organisations"