Download a pdf of what's on in May 2012 to August 2012
May 2012
Animal Art Club
Every Weekend in May
Join Tipsy and the Monkey Bunch in this arts and crafts session making some animal art!
Time: 12pm - 1pm
Where: Guest Services
Price: FREE - please bring some old cards/wrapping paper
Save the Planet Super Heroes
Every weekend in May (except 26th/27th May)
Join Tipsy and the Monkey Bunch in learning about recycling and animal conservation.
Time: 2pm - 3pm
Where: Guest Services
Price: FREE*
Friends of Twycross
6th May 2012
Members of the Zoo are invited to join us for an informative talk on our animals.
Time: 11am - 12pm
Where: Himalaya
Price: Free to members
British Doughnut and Sandwich Week
12th - 19th May
With some delicious sweet treats and tasty sandwiches check out Himalaya for offers.
Discover Animal Behaviour
The course is a general introduction to animal behaviour using a mixture of activities, practical observations and talks. Topics covered will include: animal intelligence, animal communication, foraging, predator/prey interaction and reproductive behaviour in addition to practical observations of several species and the opportunity to design and test your own ethogram (behaviour recording sheets).
Aimed at people with a general interest in animal behaviour, no previous knowledge required.
This course runs from 10am to 4pm over three consecutive Saturdays. The price of £105 includes lunch each day, refreshments and membership to Twycross Zoo for a year. Current members of the zoo will be charged £40.
Time: 10am - 4pm
Where: The Napier Centre
Price: Non members £105, Members £40
Digital SLR Photography for Beginners
18th May
This one day introductory course includes both classroom tuition and time to put your skills to the test around the Zoo. Lunch and refreshments are provided throughout the day. Booking is essential.
Time: 9am - 5pm
Price: £125
Where: Windowss on the Wild and Zoo
Love your Zoo Poster Making Session
26th - 27th May
Join our monkey bunch team to create a poster on why you love the zoo!
Time: 2pm - 3.30pm
Where: Guest Services
Price: Free*
June 2012
Great British Food
Throughout June & July 2012
With an amazing selection of great British treats enjoy all your favourites in Himalaya including fish & chips.
Love Your Zoo - Run the Monkey Mile!
2nd June
If you love your zoo why not join us for a fun run around Twycross with all funds raised going to the animals and our conservation projects.
Time: 3pm
Where: Himalaya for start
Price: Zoo entry free to runners. Normal Zoo entry cost for all spectators.
Love your Zoo Poster Making Session
2nd, 3rd & 9th, 10th June
Join our monkey bunch team to create a poster on why you love the zoo!
Time: 12pm - 1pm
Where: Guest Services
Price: Free*
Diamond Jubilee Commemorative Plate Making
2nd June - 5th June
Join the monkey bunch to create your very own piece of art to celebrate the Queens Jubilee!
Time: 2pm - 3pm
Where: Guest Services
Price: Free*
Father's Day Card Making
17th June
Join Tipsy and the Monkey Bunch to make your special dad, or grandad or even an uncle a lovely card to say thank you for looking after you!
Time: 12pm - 1pm
Where: Guest Services
Price: Free* - Please bring some old cards/wrapping paper
Father's Day
17th June
Bring the whole family together to celebrate how fantastic your Father is! Enjoy a delicious 3 course meal while overlooking our private bird aviary.
Time: 12pm
Where: Windows on the Wild
Price: £16.95
To book please call Guest Services on 0844 474 1777
William Shakespeare's 'Much Ado About Nothing' Open-air Theatre
21st June
Heartbreak Productions stage the much-loved Shakespearian comedy amid a flurry of 1940s Air Force uniforms and a whirlwind of war time song and dance. Dynamic, poignant and ultimately hilarious, this production guarantees audiences will be filling the skies with the roar of laughter.
Time: 7.30pm
Where: Cockatoo lawn, Twycross Zoo (Performance will move inside if weather is unsuitable)
Price: £10 per adult, £5 concessions
Please bring your own chairs or blankets. Refreshments available.
To book please visit: www.heartbreakproductions.co.uk
July 2012
Midweek Meerkat Feed Offer
July & August 2012
To celebrate 2012 we are offering our fabulous mid week Meerkat feeds for just £20.12!
Time: 10am - 4pm - Mon - Fri only, Excluding Bank Holidays
Where: Guest Services*
Price: £20.12 (Normal Price £40)
GREAT British Breakfast
Available from 27th July
Treat yourself to a traditional breakfast and be ready to go for the rest of the day
Time: 10am
Where: Himalaya
Price: 5 items £3.25, 10 items £5.50
Cup Cakes from Around the World
Available from 27th July
Enjoy a cup cake from around the world and accompany this with a speciality coffee or tea at Cafe Tibet.
Time: All day
Where: Himalaya
Price: £2.00 per cup cake
Celebration of World Food!
The Western Kitchen in Himalaya will celebrate different countries cuisine - see the specials board at the Western Kitchen for more details.
Opening Ceremony Fireworks!
27th July
Watch the Olympic opening ceremony at the zoo and enjoy the fireworks.
Time: 8pm
Where: Follow directions on the day
Price: Free with entry price to the zoo
Trail for Gold!
Throughout July & August
Have some family fun with this orienteering challenge and win a gold medal for each participating child. Pick up the trail in Guest Services.
Time: All day
Where: Family Trail around the zoo
Price: £3.50 per child*
Noel Coward's' Private Lives' Open-air Theatre
July 29th
Irreverent, hilarious and sophisticated, 'Private Lives' overflows with Noel Coward's celebrated eccentric wit and skilful comedic staging and, his glamorous, characters seem incapable of taking much of anything seriously for long - a condition which proves contagious for the audience!
Time: 7.30pm
Where: Cockatoo Cafe, Twycross Zoo
Price: £10 per adult, £5 concessions
Please bring your own chairs or blankets. Refreshments available.
To book please visit: www.heartbreakproductions.co.uk
Summer Safari
30th July - 3rd August
Join the discovery team finding out all about Twycross Zoo's animals - play games, make crafts and meet some of our friendlier animals. With a special parents event at the end of the week!
Ages: 8 - 12 | Time: 10am - 4pm
Where: Around the zoo
Price: £100 (£85 for members and siblings)
Places must be booked in advance.
To book, please call Guest Services on 0844 474 1777
For more information, or to book, please call 0844 474 1777 or e-mail education@twycrosszoo.org
Tipsy and Lenny's pentathlon challenge
Every day in July & August
A fun athletic challenge with Tipsy and Lenny with events including road runner relay, gorilla welly toss, wallaby long jump, leopard sprint and the world famous chicken egg and spoon race!
Time: 12.30pm - 1.30pm
Where: Cockatoo Cafe
Price: Free*
August 2012
Zooniversity at Twycross Zoo!
6th - 10th August
It's not just keepers who get to work with animals in the zoo! Join the discovery team for the week and try out the different careers on offer at the zoo.
Ages: 13 - 16
Time: 10am - 4pm
Where: Around the zoo
Price: £100 (£85 for members and siblings)
Places must be booked in advance.
To book, please call Guest Services on 0844 474 1777
Food & Wine Tasting Evening
24th August
Enjoy a delicious 3 course meal designed to compliment a selection of wines, all introduced to you by our expert fine wine merchant Bibendum.
Time: 7pm arrival, dinner 8pm
Where: Windows on the Wild
Price: £35
booking is essintial.
To book, please call Guest Services on 0844 474 1777
Cultural Olympiad Special Lionheart Project 2012 Tour
11th September - 21st December
The Lionheart Project is part of Artists Taking the Lead, a series of 12 public art commissions across the UK to celebrate the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. The Lionheart Project will see three giant crocheted lions travelling the country in a 16 metre long illuminated glass case and taking residence at Twycross for 3 months - something not to be missed!
September 2012
Tour Guide Tuesday! Primate Tour
Every Tuesday in September
Enjoy this guided tour around the zoo, with our experts who will talk to you about our wonderful primates. Visit the Gibbons, the Orangutans, Bonobos, Gorillas and finish at the entertaining Chimpanzees.
Time: 11am
Where: Guest Services
Price*: Adults £2.50 Children £2, Free to Friends of Twycross
Tasty Treats!
9th and 23rd September
Come and sample our delicious beef served by our local butcher 19Gales. Samples are free but why not come back and join us for a full Sunday lunch from our Western Kitchen and taste the beef as part of a roast dinner!
Time: 11am - 3pm
Where: Himalaya
Price: Free
Lionheart Project 2012 Tour - Cultural Olympiad Special
11th September - 21st December
The Lionheart Project is part of Artists Taking the Lead, a series of 12 public art commissions across the UK to celebrate the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad. The three giant crocheted lions will be taking up residence at Twycross Zoo for 3 months - so don't miss this art extravaganza!
Time: All day
Where: Outside Himalaya
Price: Free
Patchwork Quilt Pledge
11th September - 21st December
This project, in-conjunction with the Lionheart Project, was designed to inspire people of all ages to get involved and get creative by knitting or crocheting squares to be joined together into one large blanket. Twycross Zoo is hosting the 21,000 squares crocheted blanket so come take a look!
Time: All Day
Where: Himalaya
Price: Free
Scarecrow Festival
15th & 16th September
Join us to celebrate the scarecrow! With corn doll making with the Monkey Bunch for kids, Friends of Twycross members enrichment making for animals and a Scarecrow making competition where the winner gets 1 free family ticket!
Time: 10.30am - 4.30pm
Where: Corn Doll making 2.30pm at Guest Services,
Friends of Twycross enrichment making 2.30pm in the Napier Centre
Price*: Free
National Cup Cake Week
17th-23rd September
What a great excuse to eat cake! Celebrate National Cup Cake Week by enjoying one of our scrummy cup cakes and on 23rd September come and join us and our local baker to decorate your own cup cakes and gingerbread men!
Time: Available all day
Where: Cafe Tibet
Price: From £1.95 extra £50p to decorate the cake.
Elephant Celebrations
22nd & 23rd September
Come and celebrate all things jumbo with some elephantastic activities! Discover amazing facts, create your own enrichment to give to our elephants and find out why these incredible animals are under serious threat in the wild.
Time: 11am- 4pm
Where: Find full details of activities in Himalaya
Price*: Enrichment making £2.00 for non-members, £1 for Friends of Twycross.
October 2012
Spooky Arts & Crafts with the Monkey Bunch
Every weekend in October
With Halloween creeping and a crawling upon us, join our Monkey Bunch art and craft sessions to make some spooky stuff!
Time: 2pm -3pm
Where: Guest Services
Price*: Free
Conservation Station
Every weekend until 28th October
Come and join the Discovery Team to play games and find out about our animals and conservation.
Time: 10am - 4pm
Where: Cockatoo Lawn (weather dependent)
Price*: Free
Wedding Fayre
7th October
Planning a wedding can be hard work so why not visit us at Twycross where we will be showcasing the best suppliers to make your day incredibly special!
Time: 11am - 3.30pm
Where: Himalaya
Price: Free
National Curry Week
8th - 14th October
Try one of our tasty curries based on traditional authentic cooking while watching the snow leopards. Plus with our special offer buy two of our £7.50 curry meals and get a free upgrade to the £9.50 Himalaya Special!
Time: 12.00pm-3pm
Where: Dhaba Shak in Himalaya
Price: From £7.50
Twycross Gallery - Unveiling of the Mathew Bellamy Amur Leopard Painting
20th October
This painting has been created especially for Twycross zoo to raise awareness of the plight of the Amur Leopards, with currently less than 35 left in existence. The painting will also have an extremely limited edition of prints available. Mathew will be with us in the gallery for the unveiling and will be happy to talk about his work and this very special painting. Please join us for a glass of bubbly to celebrate this event.
Time: Unveiling 2.30pm
Where: Twycross Gallery
Price: Free
What Do Animals Want?
20th October - 4th November
Come and discover what it takes to make our big cats purr, our monkeys chatter and our parrots squawk. This is your opportunity to give something back to the animals you love to see. Join in with our animal enrichment programme and make something the animals will enjoy.
Time: 10am - 1pm
Where: Napier Centre
Price*: £2, Free to Friends of Twycross
Halloween Events
Freaky face painting!
20th - 31st October
Come along and be transformed into a ghoulish ghoul as part of our Halloween events.
Time: 11am - 4.30pm.
Where: Himalaya
Price: £3.50, Friends of Twycross £3
Creepy Crawly Crazy
20th October - 4th November
Come and meet the creepy crawlies with our discovery team experts. Hear the cockroaches hiss, tremble at our tarantulas, shiver at our giant snails and learn some amazing facts ready to shock people with for Halloween!
Time: 1pm- 4pm
Where: Napier Centre
Price*: Free
Zombie Walk
27th & 28th October
Our zombie tour guide will take you on a half hour spooky trail around Pets@Twycross to look at our resident pets on a Halloween themed tour.
Time: From 3.30pm
Where*: Pets@Twycross
Price*: Adults £1.50 Children £1, Free to Friends of Twycross
Haunted Ghost Train
28th & 29th October
Have a chilling experience on the Halloween themed ghost train, where ghouls and spools will scare you witless!!
Time: From 2pm
Where: Rio Grande Train
Price*: Adults £2.50, Children £2, Friends of Twycross £1
November 2012
Make your own Christmas Decorations!
Every weekend in November and December
Join the Monkey Bunch in making your very own Christmas decorations to take home and show your creative flair!!
Time: 11am
Where: Guest Services
Price*: Free
Tour Guide Tuesday! Little & Large Tour
Every Tuesday in November
Enjoy this guided tour around the zoo, that will give you more in-depth detail on our smallest and largest animals!
Time: 11am
Where: Guest Services
Price*: Adults £2.50 Children £2, Free to Friends of Twycross
Food & Wine Tasting Evening
2nd November
Bibendum is a fine wine merchant with an unstoppable passion for quality wine with a good story. Treat yourselves to a night of rich reds, wonderful whites and sparkling rose plus a delicious 3 course meal and some tips from the experts
Time: Arrival 7pm, Dinner 8pm
Where: Windows on the Wild
Price: £35.00
Friends of Twycross - Silent Fireworks
4th November
Join us for our first ever Fireworks night at the Zoo! With silent fireworks, plus treat yourself to the obligatory hot dog!! Bring the whole family to enjoy this spectacular event!
Time: 6pm
Where: Otter Car Park?
Price: Friends of Twycross £5.00, Other visitors: £7.50
Pudding Week
5th - 11th November
Celebrating the great British pudding why not take a brisk walk around the zoo then join us for a hot chocolate, tea or coffee and a tasty pudding from a treacle sponge, sticky toffee or jam roly poly, all served with delicious warm custard.
Time: 10am - 4pm
Where: Himalaya
Cost: £2.95
Children in Need
16th November
Pets For Life
24th & 25th November
Come and join us at Pets at Twycross to find out how we care for our pets and pick up a few tips of your own. With sessions on rodent, reptile, birds and domestic carnivore care you are sure to learn something you didn't know! Pick up a free pet care factsheet to take home.
Time: 11am -3pm
Where: Pets at Twycross
Price*: Free