Help to grow bee friendly plants at the Festival of Discovery

Family events for all at ‘Festival of Discovery’

Penryn’s position as the ‘historical home of Cornish learning’ will be reinforced this weekend at a special family fun event, hosted by experts from the University of Exeter.

For the first time, staff from Exeter’s Penryn Campus will hold a “Festival of Discovery” at Penryn Town Hall on Saturday, August 27, from 12.30-4pm.

The interactive event has been organised as part of the annual Penryn Town Fair, and make up part of the celebrations to mark the 800^th anniversary of the Cornish town becoming a borough.

The Festival of Discovery will offer a variety of ‘hands on’ experiences for all ages, including the opportunity to pan for gold, using spaghetti and marshmallows to try and build an earthquake-proof structure, and taking a core sample through a landscape of cake.

Visitors will also be given the opportunity to dissect owl pellets, handle animal bones, as well as seeing bees at work and also take home bee-friendly plants.

Experts from the Institute of Cornish Studies will also be staging an exhibition of historic photographs of the town, called ‘Remembering Penryn’, which visitors will also be able to contribute to by recording their own unique memories of yesteryear.

Professor Dave Hosken, Dean of Strategic Development for the University’s Cornwall campuses, said: “Penryn is the historical home of Cornish Learning and with the University of Exeter now in its 11th year on the Penryn Campus, higher education has been brought back to the borough. This is something which the University of Exeter is very proud to be part of, particularly because a core element of the University’s original charter is to provide higher education opportunities for the children of Devon and Cornwall.

“This year marks a particularly important milestone in Penryn Town’s history as it reaches 800 years since Bishop Simon of Exeter founded the 'Borough' of Penryn and we are delighted to be involved in the celebrations. The Penryn Fair promises to be not only an historic event but also a fun day out for all of the family.”

Penryn Mayor, Councillor Mark Snowdon, added: “We are very much looking forward to what the University has in store for this year’s Fair Day. The Festival of Discovery will be a great addition to the 37^th Town Fair and I’m sure residents will also be excited to see what’s inside the Town Hall. Having the University of Exeter academics join with the parade will be a fitting tribute to the town’s history of learning and long may it continue.”

Staff from the Penryn Campus will also be taking party in the Town Fair Parade, which begins at 12.50pm from the Memorial Gardens up to the Methodist Chapel where to Town Fair is officially opened at 1pm.

Date: 23 August 2016