Get started on your will with Octopus and Chester Zoo
Janet’s relationship with Chester Zoo began in 1953, when she visited in a pram, before her first birthday. A lifelong animal lover (especially her beloved spaniels), Jan adored her regular visits to the zoo and loved welcoming new animals and seeing new habitats opening over the years.
Dennis first visited the zoo in 1972, when he was training to be a teacher at Chester College. Jan was actually his landlady’s daughter at the time and, after getting married in 1975, they became regular visitors and lifelong supporters of the zoo and our conservation work.
Married for 46 years, Dennis and Jan lived a short distance away from the zoo, so they’d often make a last-minute decision to visit on a sunny afternoon and spend an hour or so, visiting the latest new arrival or baby animal, before heading home. Visits were a little-and-often way of life for them.
Chester Zoo is an oasis of calm for a busy visitor in a hectic world. An inspirational organisation that shows care and love for animals through conservation. It’s a great educator for people of all ages in highlighting the dangers that face the natural world.
Dennis
Supporting special projects
Dennis and Jan spent as much time as possible supporting Chester Zoo. As well as membership, Jan trained to become an accredited zoo guide. And in the ‘80s, Dennis (who by then was Head of Computer Science at Chester College) encouraged groups of students to visit the zoo. He even arranged for his department to sponsor some of the turtles here, which linked nicely to a robot ‘turtle’ that was part of their course. He also arranged departmental Christmas dinners at The Oakfield.
Jan and Dennis particularly loved supporting special projects here at Chester Zoo. One of their initial generous donations was for our Fruit Bat Forest fundraising campaign. Dennis likes to believe they were supporting the bats because they’d enjoyed watching bats near their home, but he has a feeling it was really down to Janet’s devotion to Adam West – the original Batman!
Delighted to see their names on a thank you plaque alongside the Adam West, this was an exciting moment for Dennis and Jan, as they began to feel a real connection with Chester Zoo and our global mission to prevent extinction.
A soft spot for our gentle giants
Over the years, Janet and Dennis sponsored a number of other activities at the zoo, and donated towards various fundraising appeals – including our elephant endotheliotropic herpes virus (EEHV) vaccine campaign, Never Forget.
Jan absolutely loved visiting the elephants here and had been deeply saddened by the loss of elephants to EEHV at the zoo. She even very kindly took flowers and cards to our elephant keepers when elephants were lost to EEHV, understanding and sharing their deep sense of loss.
The couple then began sponsoring our research project to develop a vaccine, as soon as we launched our fundraising appeal. And they were thrilled that, thanks to their support, an EEHV vaccine was becoming a real possibility (and has now become a reality!).
Janet's legacy
Janet very sadly passed away in 2021 after spending seven weeks in hospital and hospice care.
The couple hadn’t really discussed which charities they’d be leaving money to before Janet fell ill, but after getting her diagnosis, Jan made a will that left a significant donation to Chester Zoo, as well as to the hospice that had been caring for her.
Jan is remembered at Chester Zoo with an inscribed leaf on our retired Giving Tree and with a paw print plaque, beside the snow leopard habitat. However, Dennis hopes her most significant legacy will be inspiring other visitors and members to think about the lasting impact they might make to conservation by kindly considering leaving a gift in their will.
By sharing their story, Dennis hopes even more people with happy memories of their time spent here at the zoo, will consider making a legacy donation.
Get started on your will with Octopus and Chester Zoo today
Make a will. It doesn’t matter who you want to leave your money to. It doesn’t have to be Chester Zoo. Making a will is the ONLY way to make sure your wishes are followed. And remember - you can leave something to loved ones and charities (it doesn’t have to be one or the other).
Dennis
Dennis: still on a mission
As a Chester Zoo Conservation patron, Dennis continues to support Chester Zoo, with an annual donation towards our global conservation work. He continues to sing loudly and proudly about our mission to his friends and associates. He visits often and keeps up to date with all the latest zoo news, including developments with the EEHV vaccine, which means so much to him.
In thanks for his generosity, Dennis receives a package of patron benefits and attends several exclusive events throughout the year where he can meet with the team and other like-minded, passionate supporters.
Dennis has also kindly named Chester Zoo as a beneficiary in his own will to help sustain our vital work - enabling nature to survive and thrive.
My wish is to play a small but vital part in funding Chester Zoo’s research into animal medicine and species preservation, which can only be of great future benefit to the natural world. And I’d love other people to feel the same.
Dennis
As a registered conservation and education charity, Chester Zoo relies on the generosity of our supporters to help secure a future for wildlife. Legacy donations are a powerful way to support our work, helping us plan for the long term and continue our vital work to prevent extinction, protect habitats and inspire future generations.
We’d like to say a huge and heartfelt thank you to Dennis and Janet for their incredible generosity, and especially to Dennis for sharing his story and inspiring others to consider leaving their own legacy to Chester Zoo.
We are incredibly grateful for their support. By leaving a legacy, Dennis and Janet are helping Chester Zoo secure its future and giving us the resources to continue protecting threatened species and habitats for years to come. Their generosity will live on through the wildlife and wild places it helps protect, making a difference for generations to come.
Leading the way
We have now successfully trialled an EEHV vaccine here at Chester Zoo that works by triggering the type of immune response elephants need, to protect them against this life-threatening virus.
The vaccine is being carefully rolled out in other zoos and countries, with priority given to youngsters who are most at risk. This is a huge breakthrough for science and the survival of a species that’s classed as endangered and is facing ever-increasing risks.
The challenge lies in administering the vaccine in the wild; as it is given in booster doses, this makes it incredibly hard to administer to wild elephants. However, plans are underway to develop delivery methods for wild populations.
EEHV has taken the lives of so many elephants, but this vaccine offers hope and a massive step towards ending those losses.
Dr Katie Edwards, Lead Conservation Scientist
Leaving a gift in will to Chester Zoo
Many people are surprised to learn that a legacy gift of any size can make a meaningful difference. Leaving a charitable gift in your will can be a wonderful way to support a cause you care about and create a lasting legacy for the future.
Whether you choose to donate to us or not, you’re welcome to use our free will scheme in partnership with Octopus Legacy. There’s no obligation to include a gift to any charity, but please consider leaving something to us if you’ve enjoyed visiting over the years and share Janet and Dennis’s feelings about the work we do. Thank you.
