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Earth Day – free family events

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Detail of Earth
11-04-2023 12:21 PM BST
Celebrate Earth Day 2023 with a weekend of free family events at North Devon’s museums.

Earth Day is an annual event held on 22 April to demonstrate support for environmental protection. In North Devon, there will be Earth Weekend events to mark the occasion from 21-23 April 2023.

The weekend of activities is all part of The Wild Escape, a project celebrating wildlife and creativity supported by hundreds of museums across the UK.

The Earth Weekend events kick off on Friday, 21 April with a Wild Night at the Museum with origami artist and Beaford education lead Caroline Preston. The event gives families a special chance to encounter the creatures of twilight at the Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon, make their own silhouette shapes inspired by the museum’s specimens and tag their wildlife encounters on a biosphere map. There’s also a chance to get up close and personal with lives bugs and insects from Exmoor Zoo.

Saturday, 22 April is Earth Day and there will be nature-themed activities and stalls on The Square in Barnstaple. The family event runs from 11am until 1pm and there is no need to book. Artist and Plough Arts Centre gallery director Peter Stiles will help participants find messages in bottles washed in by the Taw Estuary and imagine the poems the sea might write to us.

Discover the creatures in the museum’s Tarka Gallery and see if you can spot the oyster catcher’s curious cousins around The Square courtesy of Red Herring Productions. Red Herring will also be bringing their ‘Trip to the Sea’ soundscape.

The weekend continues with an Earth Day celebration at The Landmark Theatre in Ilfracombe on Sunday, 23 April, between 11am and 1pm. People are invited to experience some of the fantastic work created by local primary schools, families and children during The Wild Escape – the project in which 7-11 year olds have been joining the conversation about biodiversity through museums in Barnstaple, Ilfracombe, Braunton and Mortehoe, as well as artists, writers and performers.

Manager at the Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon, Alison Mills, says: “We are excited to be marking Earth Day with a packed programme of events as part of our Wild Escape initiative. The events in Barnstaple and Ilfracombe are a chance to experience some of the wonderful work produced by children, and our natural history collections which have inspired them.  I hope it allows everyone to learn more about our amazing wildlife and the importance of protecting it for the future.”

The Wild Escape is led by national art charity Art Fund with support from Arts Council England.

More details about the events can be found on the Museum of Barnstaple and North Devon website. Tickets for Wild Night at the Museum can be found on the Art Tickets website. For further queries about The Wild Escape in North Devon, email claire@clairegulliver.co.uk.
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