BAA Aberdeen Airport to Sponsor
Aberdeen’s Natural History Centre
Date: 1 0
BAA Aberdeen Airport is to sponsor the Natural History Centre at the University of Aberdeen by funding equipment and materials for children visiting the Centre.
The Natural History Centre is a community resource housed in the Department of Zoology at the University. Serving the north and north-east of Scotland, it is a provider of environmental and natural history education in all forms.
BAA Aberdeen Airport is sponsoring the Natural History Centre through the company’s 21st Century Communities Trust, which supports education, environment and economic regeneration projects in the communities close to its airports throughout the UK.
Richard Jeffery, Aberdeen Airport Managing Director, said: “As part of the BAA plc Group, Aberdeen Airport is committed to supporting the local community. We are delighted to be able to lend our support to the University of Aberdeen’s Natural History Centre, which is a tremendous resource that encourages youngsters from throughout the North of Scotland to take an interest in science and the environment at an early age.”
The sponsorship will fund stationery and teaching materials, along with workshop activities for the various groups using the Centre, including follow-up teaching material and the costs of a newsletter to be sent to over 400 schools three times a year.
Professor Dominic Houlihan, Vice Principal and Dean of the Faculty of Science & Engineering said: “Aberdeen University are delighted to accept this sponsorship from BAA for our NHC. The excitement and pleasure that the children will get from the BAA support will be long-lasting. The Centre acts as a source of inspiration and education for children from the local schools and the benefits from this sponsorship will be spread throughout the local community.”
A major resource for local schools and the public, the services provided by the Natural History Centre are free of charge. In the last five years more than 40,000 youngsters have visited the Centre.
The Centre is home to extensive and valuable animal collections dating from 1831. In the last five years, more than 40,000 youngsters have visited the Centre. The Centre attracts not only local interest, but also receives visitors from abroad as a direct result of its website.
The Centre offers a wide range of activities, including one-day courses, activities with local community centres, after-school groups, and pensioners groups. It receives a number of visitors from nearby disadvantaged areas, and its staff visit and arrange trips for disabled children and patients in the Aberdeen Children’s Hospital.
Notes:
The Natural History Centre was established in 1995 with a generous four-year grant from Conoco (UK).
Other organisations which donated towards the creation of the Centre were Enterprise Oil and the Ernest Cook Trust.
The University of Aberdeen contributes by providing teaching space and the use of resources at the Natural History Museum and the Cruickshank Botanical Garden.
The BAA 21st Century Communities Trust states that it will help local communities in three ways:
It will assist projects which are developing educational opportunities including those for the disadvantaged.
It will help groups nurture the physical environment
It will assist those whose work is helping to develop employment opportunities