Bollington Festival Starts next Month

The annual Bollington Festival starts on Friday 8th of May and runs until the late May Bank Holiday (Monday May 25th).  The organisers are hoping for an even greater attendance for the events, shows, presentations and activities this year, beating the experience of 2008 when over 10,000 event tickets were sold and many thousands more attended the free, open air activities.  The Festival is going to have for the first time, a series of science themed presentations, adding to the broad appeal of the Festival.  There will be something for everyone, from toddlers right up to the young at heart.

As well as covering literature, the arts, sport and photography a number of science themed events and presentations will be held over the three weeks that the Festival runs.

For example, on Saturday 16th May from 1pm to 4pm a series of science themed workshops will be held, promising explosions, experiments and excitement.  The event is open to all and free to attend, just pop along to the Bollington Methodist Church and be prepared to be entertained and perhaps even educated in one or two scientific concepts.

To learn more about the events on offer visit the official website of the Bollington Festival, a link to it is here: Bollington Festival.

The Cheshire town of Bollington is just a few miles north of Macclesfield and it has become quite famous for its Festival.  This year, for the first time, a number of science based presentations and events are going to be held.  The Festival has a dedicated science group and a total of 8 fantastic science themed events will take place over the duration of the Festival.

The Bollington Festival

The scientific presentations are varied and cover a diverse range of subjects, for example, Dr. Graeme Jones from the School of Physical and Geographical Sciences at Keele University will be presenting the definitive scientific guide to a good night out – “Saturday Night Science”.

In recognition of 2009 being the international year of astronomy, Dr Jamie Gilmour from the School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences at the University of Manchester will be providing visitors to the Festival with a guide to meteorites, and how our little part of the Milky Way was formed.  His presentation is entitled “Meteorites, Stardust and the Solar System”.

Our good friend Dr Phil Manning from the University of Manchester will be giving a talk on his latest palaeontological adventures and updating everyone on some of the new developments in palaeontology.  He promises to cover everything from dinosaur mummies, to fossil blasting and how to carry out a dinosaur autopsy – sounds fascinating.  Dr Manning will be talking on the evening of Tuesday 12th May at the Bollington Arts Centre.

Promotional Poster for Presentation on Dinosaurs (Dr Phil Manning)

Picture credit: Annette Hurst (Bollington Festival)

Visit the Bollington Festival website: Bollington Festival Website.