Series of online talks on conservation issues to help beat the lockdown blues
pen to members and nonmembers, the Campaign to Protect Rural England Sussex branch is staging online events to take away the lockdown blues with a Festival of Spring virtual talks.
From the comfort of your armchair, hear from inspirational people who love nature, the countryside and the Sussex landscape whilst helping to raise vital funds for a beautiful and thriving Sussex countryside that enriches all our lives.
The first event this Sunday, February 21 at 7pm entitled Hearth and Home with Dr Geoffrey Mead.
Dr Mead is passionate about the Sussex landscape, its history, building styles and communities.
He will share his deep local knowledge and enthusiasm and find out why Sussex villages, towns and homes are so varied across the
East and West Sussex – from the High Weald to coastal plain, Greensand Heaths to coastal marshlands, as Sussex has it all.
Sunday, February 28 welcomes a talk by William Shaw on A Life of Crime at 7pm.
This is something different for a countryside charity to host as they seek to bring variety to Sussex residents. William Shaw is a brilliant crime novelist in his spare time, as some will know him as the web designer and member of the CPRE Sussex team.
As described in the Sunday Times, William Shaw ‘handles diverse plotlines brilliantly, demonstrating his ability to write about
Ocontemporary events with keen intelligence.’ He is ‘a superb storyteller’. William’s latest novel, Grave’s End, involves unscrupulous planners and the natural history of badgers. He will talk about his work, inspiration and plots – often set-in familiar landscapes.
The second talk by Dr Geoffrey Mead is entitled Viscounts and Chicken Stubbers, again opening at 7pm on March 21.
Join Dr Mead as he explores the role of people and community diversity in shaping the Sussex landscape from our chocolate box villages to large scale housing. ‘It is all down to the soil and who owns it’, says Geoffrey.
Wednesday, March 31 sees the owner of Knepp Estate in Shipley, Sir Charlie Burrell, talk about his long-term plans of Rewilding at Knepp Castle at 7pm.
Many a national newspaper has given praise to Lady Burrell’s book on the rewilding of Knepp, now you can hear first-hand his account of their amazing journey transitioning from intensive and unprofitable farming to an open-ended, low-cost, landscape-scale restoration project at the Knepp Estate in West Sussex.
All 3,200 acres of the Knepp Estate are now devoted to a process-led rewilding project involving free-roaming herds of cattle, horses, pigs and deer as drivers of habitat creation. Since 2001, when it began, numerous Red Data species have colonised Knepp and populations of common species are rocketing.
Dave Goulson talks about Gardening to Save the Planet on Thursday ,April 15 from 7pm.
Professor Dave Goulson of Biology at Sussex University and author of Bumblebees and A Sting in the Tale, founded the Bumblebee Conservation Trust in 2006 which aims to reverse the decline in the bumblebee population. Dave specialises in the ecology and conservation of insects.
Having heard Dave speak before, bees are a fascinating subject. He has turned his attention to our everyday gardens and how we can make them a haven for all insects in his new book The Garden Jungle. This will be a wonderful introduction to the hundreds of small creatures with whom we live cheekby-jowl and of the myriad ways that we can encourage them to thrive.
The Garden Jungle is about the wildlife that lives right under our noses, in our gardens and parks, between the gaps in the pavement, and in the soil beneath our feet. Dave will give you an insight into the fascinating and sometimes weird lives of these creatures, taking you burrowing into the compost heap, digging under the lawn and diving into the garden pond. He explains how our lives and ultimately the fate of humankind is inextricably intertwined with that of earwigs, bees, lacewings and hoverflies, unappreciated heroes of the natural world.
Ticket prices for each talks are for CPRE members £5, non-members £7.50. Concessions £1. Find out more and book your tickets at: www.cpresussex.org.uk/news/cpre-sussexfestival-of-spring/.