Junior Members
If you are aged 8 years and over when you become a junior member you can access a variety of additional events such as BBQs and Summer School at a small extra cost.
Discovery Session
Saturday 21st January 2012
This is your opportunity to get to know your own zoo much better. We will split into groups and do different activities such as imaginative enclosure design which will be your chance to create the best living accommodation for a species we choose, and also to have zoo tours.
Store-up some questions about the animals and the way we look after them to ask your guides.
Eights and over are asked to join us, meeting outside Oakfield House (near the Lions) at 2.00 pm, and parents can collect the youngsters from there at 4.00 pm.
Manchester Natural History Museum
Saturday 18th February 2012
Manchester Museum is huge and it has a wonderful Natural History Section with live animals on display which we will visit (plus some other sections of the museum of course!). There will be so much to see and do that we will have an action-packed cold February day warm indoors.
The bus will leave the Staff Entrance at 10.30 am and return at 4.00 pm. Eights and over are welcome to come. Bring a picnic.
Tracks & Signs
Saturday 24th March 2012
This is probably one of our most popular events which entertains the wide age range we cater for. This is your chance to see the zoo from the 'animals' view' of the visitors, as you will be going inside some of the enclosures to search for footprints from which to make plaster casts.
March is the best time of year for this as it is normally muddy – but please bear this in mind when you dress in the morning. Hopefully, you will have a souvenir of your day to take home with you.
Eights and over can come along and join the messiness, when we meet outside Oakfield House at 11.00 am, returning there for collection at 4.00 pm.
You will need a picnic lunch, and it is important that you wear clean, very old clothes and clean wellies please.
Twycross Zoo Visit
Saturday 21st April 2012
It is a while since the Juniors visited Twycross in Warwickshire – an exceptional collection of primates. It is always nice to see how other zoos do things. Be prepared for a fairly long bus journey but it will be well worth it!
Eights and over are asked to join us, meeting at the Staff Entrance at 9.30 am, and we will return there for 5.30 pm. Bring a picnic with you.
Lower Moss Wood Nature Reserver and Wildlife Hospital
Saturday 19th May 2012
This is a very special opportunity to experience a much-loved and cared-for woodland near Knutsford in Cheshire, and to hear about the life that lives within it when we have a guided tour with Ray Jackson.
We also hope to meet some owls and other birds of prey there, as well as have a quick peek at the active Wildlife Hospital on site which is a vital resource, rescuing and re-habilitating many of our native species.
We may also get the chance to do some pond-dipping while we are there.
The bus will leave the Cedar House staff car park (second staff entrance on the left as you are coming up Caughall Road from the Upton traffic lights) at 10.00 am and return for 4.30 pm.
Over eights are invited to come along, and you should bring a picnic and wellies.
Foel Farm and Chocolate Factory on the Isle of Anglesey
Saturday 23rd June 2012
Experience the sights, sounds and smells of a real working farm. Foel Farm is situated in a beautiful beachside location on Anglesey. Come along to meet and feed the animals and to enjoy the wonderful setting.
We may even have a tractor & trailer ride – or a pony ride if anyone fancies that. There is even a chocolate workshop where you can see the chocolates being made.
We will leave the staff car park at 9.00 am and return at 5.30 pm. Bring a picnic lunch and all eights and over are invited to come along for a lovely day out.
How To Be A Good Zookeeper
Wednesday 25th July 2012
This is a unique opportunity offered to Junior Members to spend a day working alongside a Zoo Keeper. The work can be tough and demanding so we strictly limit this event to those Juniors of 12 years old or over.
We try to match Juniors to their favourite section, but places are limited so this cannot be guaranteed. Please arrive prepared to work hard, with clean wellies and an additional completely clean set of clothes to work in.
Owing to the zoo's biosecurity measures, it is important that the clothes you wear to work on the sections have not been in contact with any farm animals, or even your pets at home, since they were last washed.
We will meet outside the Oakfield at 10.30 am, and the day will finish for Juniors at 4.00 pm. Please bring a packed lunch.
Also please note that bookings for this event will not be taken before 9.00 am on Wednesday 11 July 2012, (01244 650215) and will be strictly on a first-come, first-served basis.
Juniors' Summer Barbeque
Thursday 2nd August 2012
Our summer barbeque has become a regular feature for the Juniors' diary as it has proved immensely popular. Perhaps this because it is our chance to be in the zoo when there are no other visitor noises to distract you and the animals, so it is a different zoo experience.
We usually aim to have a speaker to chat to you or to engage in craft activities or zoo tours during the evening, but you can be sure to finding it relaxing.
We would like to invite eights and over to join us for a 7.00 pm start, when you should arrive at the Main Entrance. Parents are asked to collect Juniors from the Ark restaurant at 9.45 pm please.
The Junior Members' Summer School
From 6th - 10th August 2012 Inclusive
Please note that the two week booking rule does NOT apply to this event and EARLY BOOKING IS ADVISED (anytime from December 2011 onwards).
The Summer School is open to Juniors aged 12 and above (although preference will be given to those aged 13 and above). Participants must be able to attend all five (full) days and the cost will be £180 for the week.
A full programme of events for this action-packed, but informal week, will be issued in the March Edition of this magazine, but essentially the Summer School will encompass a wide variety of theoretical and practical training including a mid-week field trip, live mammal trapping, tours of the zoo, and talks from a variety of zoo staff about all aspects of the zoo's work.
It is ideally suited to those hoping to follow a career in zoos, Conservation or Veterinary Science but is also a lot of fun!
Shugborough Home Farm
Saturday 22nd September 2012
You will love this visit to a beautiful stately home in Staffordshire and will find that the Autumn is a perfect time to visit their Home Farm to see the rare breeds and shire horses. Home Farm also has wonderful displays of cheese making, flour grinding and bakery skills.
Eights and over are invited to join us for a relaxing day. We will leave the Staff Entrance at 9.30 am and return home for 5.00 pm. Bring a picnic.
The Welsh Mountain Zoo
Saturday 20th October 2012
Our Juniors love to visit other zoos, and the Welsh Mountain Zoo in Colwyn Bay is one of our neighbours. You will need to dress very warmly for this one, as the zoo is also on the top of a hill!
Over eights are invited to come along and enjoy the day, and we will leave the staff car park at 10.30 am and return there for 4.00 pm. You will need a picnic lunch.
Wirral Country Park - Thurstaton
Saturday 17th November 2012
We will start our walk at Thurstaston and will amble along the Wirral Way from there, back to the dungeons and then on as far as we want to go!
We will leave the Staff Car Park at 11.00 am and return at 4.00 pm. Over eights are invited to attend and you should bring a picnic with you.
The Juniors' Christmas Party
Friday 7th December 2012
Our annual 'bash' welcomes Juniors of eight and over to enjoy an evening of games, disco music, and a great hot-dog and beef-burger supper. You will need to bring along a cushion to sit on – and a torch to find us!
The venue will either be the Zoo`s undercover picnic area or June`s Pavilion. Access can be gained through the Cedar House Staff Entrance on Caughall Road, which is the second staff entrance on the left going from the Upton lights.
You should arrive at 7.00 pm, with your cushion and a torch, and we will guide you to the venue. Parents should arrange to collect you from the Cedar House Car Park at 9.45 pm.
How To Book & Further Information
Please Note: Bookings must be made for all events. Please ring Penny Rudd at the Zoo on 01244 650215, not more than two weeks before the event you would like to attend.
Places are offered on a first-come, first-served basis and may be limited. This list is provisional and in exceptional circumstances we may have to alter dates and venues.
You will be informed of any such changes in 'Z' Magazine and not by individual letter, so please keep up-to-date by reading the Junior Pages in each issue.
A charge will be made to cover the cost of those events which involve transport, entry fees, materials or the provision of food, and you will be advised of this at the time of booking.
Well what are you waiting for?