5,000 help zoo celebrate 100th birthday

A two-day birthday bash - Big Birthday ZOOnanza - over the weekend included live music, entertainment and an array of activities featuring music workshops from The Rock Project and interactive play with The Little Village People, as well as a roaming story teller. Alison Axford Theatre School performed dance routines, Professor Seymour Stuff explored the zoo, Mushy Cow Crafts ran workshops and Andrew Madgwick created sculptures of the zoo’s very own animals.
The music was performed by a range of talented local artists. The weekend was started with a performance from Bay Brass, soon followed by Torbay Brass Band, singer Emma McElhinney, Torbay Police Choir, Choir 86 and youth band Combustion. Sunday saw an opening set by Babbacombe Ukelele Strummers, followed by The Chordettes, girl group Risq, duo Graham and Lee and the big ‘End of the Show Show’ by The Rock project.
The event provided a great opportunity for the zoo to celebrate its place in the local community – from humble beginnings as one man’s private collection to one of Devon’s top visitor attractions and one of the UK’s best zoos.
Many ex-staff members joined in on the nostalgia including Jasmine Osmond, who had worked at the zoo as a catering manager for 20 years up until the early 90’s. Jasmine said: “We’ve had a lovely day. It’s brought back lots of memories and it has been lovely to see the zoo as it is today. It has changed a lot, but it’s really good to see.”
Events and Corporate Relationship Manager Katie White added: “We’ve all had a brilliant weekend. It’s nice to see so many of our supporters come out to celebrate our birthday – the zoo was abuzz all weekend, and we’ve had some amazing feedback so far. We can’t wait to host more events like this in the future.”
The zoo intends to keep their centenary celebrations going for the duration of the year and have confirmed that later this week they will be releasing details of a big event which will take place later this year.
The celebrations included the unveiling of a Centenary display which tells the story of Paignton Zoo.
The story starts with Zoo founder, Herbert Whitley and his passion for animals and plants which began by breeding pigeons, high-quality livestock and cultivating plants.
As Herbert’s private collection of plants and animals grew, he realized the educational value of opening his doors to the public. So in July 1923, Torbay Zoological Gardens, which would later become Paignton Zoo, opened for the first time.
Whitley passed away in 1955 and since then Paignton Zoo has continued to develop and evolve into the site that it is today with a renewed mission to educate, inspire and conserve endangered species.
During the past 100 years the zoo has seen significant change and yet its initial purpose to educate its visitors remains just as true today as it did back in 1923. In recent months the zoo has welcomed thousands of students as part of their ‘Schools Go Free’ campaign with the intent to inspire the next generation of conservationists. Conservation is at the heart of the zoo and they intend to continue in their mission to help halt species decline with the support of their visitors for the next 100 years and beyond.