Family-friendly island to host poo-themed activity trail
Brownsea Island is set to provide a unique learning experience for families this May.
The National Trust has announced the return of its popular Poo-tastic Activity Trail and Way of the Wild bushcraft taster sessions.
The Poo-tastic trail is a quirky initiative dedicated to educating participants about the intriguing world of animal droppings.
The trail seeks to shed light on the innovative ways animals reuse poo as a resource.
One such example is the behaviour of insect-eating creatures, who sift through droppings in search of their next meal.
READ MORE: National Trust Dorset spring events including egg hunt
Families dive into the wild world of animal droppings this May half-term (Image: Trevor Ray Hart) Interestingly, bat droppings, also known as guano, have been used to make explosives due to their high saltpetre content.
This component was used in fireworks and explosives during World War I.
The Poo-tastic trail will be open daily from Saturday, May 24, to Sunday, June 1, and is free of charge.
Families can look forward to engaging in fun games such as cow pat frisbee, wombat Jenga, and the sloth poo dance, all of which will not involve real poo.
Those who complete the trail will be rewarded with an "I've dung the poo trail" sticker.
SEE MORE:Dorset estate among England's best National Trust sites
Brownsea Island revives its hit Poo-tastic trail with quirky family fun (Image: Dawn Clark) Visitor experience officer, Dawn Clark, said: "We introduced the Poo-tastic trail last year and we were blown away by how poopular the event was.
"Families really love the funny side of this unusual trail and lots of fun was had by all.
"We are looking forward to seeing plenty of laughter and minds blown by poo-mazing facts again this year."
In addition to the Poo-tastic trail, bushcraft expert Joe Peartree will be conducting three hour-long bushcraft taster sessions on Friday, May 30.
These sessions will provide hands-on experience in essential survival skills, including fire lighting, shelter construction, and plant and tree identification.
The sessions, suitable for children aged seven and above, cost £6.50 per person.
These events offer a unique opportunity for families to learn, work together, and have fun in the process.
However, attendees should be aware that ferry fares and island entrance fees apply for non-members.
For more information, visit the Brownsea Island website or contact the visitor centre.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Times
2 hours ago
- New York Times
How fanzine culture gave a voice to supporters and changed English football
The titles were often gloriously creative and diverse, some paying homage to terrace anthems, others making a clever play on words. Sales were decent, too, with more than one million copies shifted per year at the height of what quickly became a phenomenon. We're talking about the rise of football fanzines in the 1980s. Those purveyors of insight and irreverence who arrived on the scene when the game was on its knees in a troubled decade and helped spark a revival. Advertisement Not just through fan activism, though there was plenty of that as fanzines joined the fight against compulsory ID cards, club mergers, and even proposals for a new European Super League featuring England's biggest names more than three decades before the more recent incarnation reared its ugly head in 2021. But, by giving supporters a long overdue voice at a time when they were considered pariahs by wider society, fanzines revealed those on the terraces to be intelligent, passionate people who had something to say beyond the cliched ''Ere We Go!' battle cry so beloved of the tabloid newspapers when generalising fans as hooligans. 'What fanzines did was offer an alternative voice that represented a much broader variety of perspectives on footballing culture,' says Kenn Taylor, part of the team behind Voice of the Fans, a new exhibition at Leeds Central Library exploring how fanzines helped change football. 'They critiqued clubs and critiqued aspects of footballing culture. But they also celebrated it and brought a really different kind of perspective. They allowed different groups of fans, some of whom experienced prejudice, to express themselves to show that they exist, too.' There had been earlier versions of fan magazines. Foul, a deliberate parody of magazines such as Shoot! and Goal, was produced by a group of Cambridge Students and ran for four years from 1972, while The End first landed on Merseyside in 1981 with an intoxicating mix of music, football and biting wit that ran for 20 issues and was edited by Peter Hooton, future lead singer of The Farm. But, really, the start of what would quickly become a truly national movement started with the arrival of club-oriented publications, such as Terrace Talk (York City), City Gent (Bradford City) and Fingerpost (West Bromwich Albion). Advertisement There was no single issue bonding together these early trailblazers other than a desire to offer an alternative view on clubs whose media coverage was largely restricted to the back page of the local newspaper and a rather staid, flimsy matchday programme. Soon, though, this early trickle of new titles had turned into a flood, with When Saturday Comes, surely the wise old grandfather of them all these days, first hitting the streets in 1986. Before long, every professional club in the UK had at least one publication chronicling their failings or otherwise and Sportspages, an independent book shop just off the Charing Cross Road in London piled high with fanzines from across the UK, became a tourist destination in itself as fans clamoured to buy the latest copy of Hit The Bar, The Gooner or Elm Park Disease. Visitors to Sportspages at the height of this publishing boom may also have enjoyed the artistic debut of future big names such as Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh and Libertines singer Pete Doherty, who wrote for Hibs Monthly (Hibernian) and All Quiet On The Western Avenue (Queens Park Rangers) respectively in their formative years. The Voice of the Fans exhibition claims that by 1992, more than 600 fanzines had appeared. Some proved short-lived, lasting just a few issues. But others, including hardy perennials United We Stand (Manchester United) and The Square Ball (Leeds United), are still going strong today in printed form despite so many of their peers having been swallowed up online. 'Heritage and tradition are perhaps the main reason there is still an appetite for the printed fanzine in our case,' says Mike Harrison, editor of City Gent, the longest-running fanzine in the country, which passed its 40th anniversary in October. 'Plus, as there is no longer a printed (matchday) programme produced by the club, City Gent is documenting what it is like to be a supporter of Bradford City from the fans' perspective.' Football and music have long been natural bedfellows, so it is perhaps not surprising that the roots of the fanzine movement that spawned such classics as There's Only One F in Fulham and Sing When We're Fishing lay in the record industry. In the late 1970s, punk briefly ruled the roost and the genre's DIY ethic struck a chord with fans who had grown tired of the music press and fancied having a go themselves. Advertisement Soon, Sniffin' Glue and Anarchy in the UK were required reading for gig-goers. In the main, these rough and ready fanzines — literally a blend of 'fan' and 'magazine' — looked to have been run off on the office photocopier when the boss wasn't looking. Crucially, though, they carried an authentic voice. Football followed suit just as the sport was hitting rock bottom. The Bradford City fire on May 11, 1985, which claimed 56 lives, came less than three weeks before another 39 supporters were killed at Heysel during a fatal charge by Liverpool fans before the European Cup final. Attendances had already slumped to less than 16.5 million across all four divisions of English football in the season that culminated in those two disasters. To put this 1984-85 figure into context, a combined 36.2 million people came through the turnstiles of the 92 Premier League and EFL clubs in 2023-24. Hooliganism, fuelled by often lurid coverage in the tabloids, helps partly explain why the public had become so turned off by a game that, in the years immediately after the Second World War, had regularly attracted a combined annual audience of 40 million fans. But there was also a lack of care from those in charge that allowed depressing episode after depressing episode to fester. These included a plan to merge Oxford United and Reading to form the Thames Valley Royals — as well as squeeze Fulham and Queen's Park Rangers into Fulham Park Rangers — around the same time Charlton Athletic abandoned The Valley. All three sagas had a happy ending eventually, thanks in no small part to the campaigning efforts of supporters. Into this mid-1980s maelstrom stepped the fanzines and a wonderful array of titles. Some drew on popular terrace chants such as Fortune's Always Hiding (West Ham United), Tired and Weary (Birmingham City) and the aforementioned Grimsby Town ditty about fishing. Then there were the clever puns, such as A Kick Up The R's (QPR), the Leyton Orientear and The Exe-Directory (Exeter City). Others required a tad more explanation, with War of the Monster Trucks a dig at Yorkshire Television from Sheffield Wednesday fans after the regional channel had cut short live coverage of their team's 1991 League Cup celebrations at Wembley to broadcast a repeat of a show first aired five years earlier. Advertisement Popular music also proved to be a breeding ground, with 4,000 Holes (Blackburn Rovers) paying homage to A Day in the Life by The Beatles, which features a line about how the Lancashire town's streets had 4,000 potholes requiring repair that John Lennon lifted straight from a newspaper report. Similarly, Gillingham's Brian Moore's Head Looks Uncannily Like The London Planetarium owed its rather left-field title to a Half Man Half Biscuit song about Moore, the ITV commentator and Gillingham director. 'One of the charms of football 'zines is they have that irreverence,' adds Taylor, lead culture producer (North) at the British Library. 'Really smart humour, full of wit. Everything from the headlines to the writing. 'It was a unique style at the time. This wasn't how things were conveyed, certainly before the advent of digital media.' Humour was, indeed, a big part of the fanzine movement from the start. This included poking fun at local rivals, such as when Bradford's City Gent produced a one-off booklet titled, 'Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Super Leeds'. All 100 pages were blank and it sold out within days, prompting a second print run to be ordered with the tagline, 'Painstakingly updated'. Around the same time, the front covers of When Saturday Comes — complete with photograph, headline and a provocative speech bubble — started to rival those of Private Eye, the satirical magazine that, for generations, had poked fun at royals, politicians and celebrities. Most were designed to amuse, but some WSC covers spoke better than a thousand words ever could, including arguably their finest effort in response to the Hillsborough disaster that saw 97 lives lost at the 1989 FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. As the blame game began in earnest over what had caused the biggest disaster in British football history, the June issue ran four photos under the headline, 'Hillsborough: Unanimous Verdict'. Advertisement 'It's not our fault,' read the speech bubbles accompanying the images of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Football Association chief executive Graham Kelly and Peter Wright, the chief constable of South Yorkshire Police. The final photo, featuring a massed bank of supporters, carried the message, 'Oh well, it must be our fault again.' As highlighted in the Voice of the Fans exhibition, When Saturday Comes also railed against plans for a domestic 'Super League' in their second issue, a full 35 years before similar arguments were made in opposition to a proposed European Super League that was eventually quashed by supporters able to mobilise through social media. Smartphones or message boards may not have been available when Charlton fanzine Voice of the Valley was first published in 1988. But that didn't stop it from helping to bring about real change. Having vacated The Valley in September 1985 due to being unable to afford the necessary safety work, the London club moved in, first, with Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park and then West Ham at Upton Park. The team was successful on the pitch, even spending four years in the top flight alongside the likes of Liverpool, Everton and Arsenal after winning promotion in 1986, but supporters clamoured for a return to their spiritual home. Voice of the Valley, alongside the supporters club, helped turn that dream into reality by being at the forefront of a campaign that culminated in the Valley Party being formed to contest the 1990 local election after Greenwich Council had rejected the club's plans to rebuild their old stadium. Charlton's most important victory in decades came at the ballot box, as the Valley Party claimed 11 per cent of the votes cast with 14,838 — an unprecedented performance by a single-issue party. That the chair of the planning committee, who had rejected Charlton's application, lost his seat on a memorable night only added to the sense of achievement, and a little over two years later, football had returned to The Valley. Advertisement ''Zines were a hugely important medium,' says Taylor. 'They allowed fans to share opinions in a way that could connect right across a fanbase. Today, that fan voice is more important than ever. 'Multi-media has changed so much since the period when there were hundreds of printed publications coming out. But one of the things we try to capture in the exhibition is how print remains very much alive. 'We found at least 60 print football 'zines still being published. Regular ones, too, not just a one-off issue. That's got to be a big positive.' Voice of the Fans runs until August 10, 2025, at Leeds Central Library. Further details are available here. Admission is free.
CBS News
3 hours ago
- CBS News
New Massachusetts playground is so popular city sets up parking reservations, time limits
Turning off of Trapelo Road in Waltham, Massachusetts, it's immediately clear why everyone's talking about the city's new playground. "The floor is kind of cushioned which is nice, and the more you walk around the more you see hidden little things the kids love. It's just great!" said local mom Ariel Brito. Splash pad, mini golf The universal playground, featuring fun for all ages and abilities, as well as a splash pad and mini golf, has exploded in popularity across social media. Playground on Trapelo Road in Waltham features mini golf, splash pad. CBS Boston "I've driven by and been like absolutely not. It was wild. I wouldn't even bother coming in on the weekend," another mom of a toddler said. New Waltham playground rules And because of all the interest and excitement, the city is rolling out some new rules this weekend to keep things safe and under control. Guests are asked to limit their visits to two hours. And weekend parking in the lots will be by reservation only. Neighbors appreciate the city's efforts. "I think the new rules are fair. Everybody needs a chance to play at the playground," said Gina McClary. Entrance to playground on Trapelo Road in Waltham. CBS Boston And they love showing off this new treasure in town to families from elsewhere. "People have been like coming here and people have been making friends," said 6-year-old Natalie. "Once school's out, once the spray deck is then opened, which looks amazing, I think we might still have the same problem during the week," one neighbor said. The reserved parking is going to be strictly enforced by rangers who will be checking for permits, available here.
Geek Tyrant
11 hours ago
- Geek Tyrant
Danny Boyle Explains 28 YEARS LATER Is the "Opposite" of What You'd Expect from a Zombie Sequel — GeekTyrant
If you're expecting 28 Years Later to go big in the way most sequels do with more infected, more explosions, global stakes, director Danny Boyle has a curveball for you. The long-awaited follow-up to his game-changing 2002 film 28 Days Later isn't trying to outdo the apocalypse. It's trying to understand what's left after it. Speaking to IGN, Boyle revealed that he and writer Alex Garland initially flirted with the typical sequel playbook. 'In fact, Alex wrote one script at one point, but they were kind of what you'd expect, and by that I mean things that you expect from a sequel, like the virus is weaponized by a military or a government or a shady [organization]... That kind of thing. And neither of us were very taken by it.' Instead of following the infection across continents in a World War Z -style expansion, Boyle and Garland made a sharp U-turn. They chose to pull the focus inward. 'We began to discuss this idea of doing a much bigger project, which was a series of films that sort of did the opposite of spreading it to Europe and the world.' This reflective approach lines up with what Boyle believes horror can do best by holding up a mirror. 'We turned back and looked at ourselves and we thought … it was very much like an England [type] film. So we kind of narrowed it down. We did the opposite of what you'd expect and it was because we had a lot to think about.' That "thinking" touches on the real-world fractures that have emerged in the years since 28 Days Later first hit theaters. Boyle mentions Brexit and the UK's shifting identity, hinting that this new chapter won't just be about rage-infected hordes, but about how a nation processes trauma. 'That's what you use these films for. They're not lectures or anything like that, but they do reflect, or there is a reflection in them, of where you are and what's happened to you really as individuals and as people." The sequel stars Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, and Ralph Fiennes, and centers on a group of survivors who've been living in relative isolation on a remote island. When they return to the mainland, they're confronted not just with the infected, but with the haunting question of what's changed, and what hasn't. If 28 Days Later redefined what a zombie film could be in the early 2000s, 28 Years Later is looking to flip the genre on its head once again, this time with an eerie calm and a deeper question at its core. 28 Years Later opens in theaters June 20, 2025.
