Thanks to our partners at Charnwood Borough Council, Charnwood Forest Geopark took the Forest to the Peter Pan Panto Day at Loughborough Town Hall. Even though it was only September all attention was on the Christmas Pantomime with families excited to meet Peter Pan and Tinkerbell, learn the dances, and have a tour backstage.
With baskets of natural materials found on the forest floor – autumn leaves, bark, nuts, seeds, pebbles, feathers and fruits – our wild art proved really poplar. From abstract designs to intricate pictures people were really creative and produced some amazing images to photograph and take away. It was a great learning opportunity too talking about how trees grow, the variety of things you can find in nature, and the uses for them – cue conversations about making ink from oak galls.
Adults were interested to find out more about the Geopark on their doorstep and lots of people took details of walks they can do in their local area. The day was well attended and great fun. For us it really felt like people wanted to connect with nature and had been inspired by talking to us – we suspect there will be more wild art being created in homes in Loughborough!