I spent most of today helping out as a volunteer at a Children's BBC event in my local town centre. There were film crews and CBBC celebrities, and I was the local bugs guy.
There were hundreds, probably a thousand or two, people there.
On site there were boa constrictors, a giant cloud rat, a giant millipede, hedgehogs, other snakes, an owl (which flew away!), some BBC camera trickery, and the celebrities. All I had were some spiders, a few slugs and snails, a biggish beetle or two, some earwigs, some woodlice, a toad, and two newts. Nothing special or exotic.
But I saw children's faces lighting up up delight as they held a toad, saw others overcome their fear to let a big house spider onto their hand, saw a little girl stay perfectly still and calm when a big leggy house spider rushed suddenly up her coat and stopped with its legs on her lower lip, heard one little boy stubbonly refusing to go and see the celebrity show he had booked into because "I want to see the spiders, mum".
What an absolute joy! Masses of children, all having a fantastic time. No screaming, no tantrums, no hystrionics, just delight and wonder.
To cap it all off, at the end, one little boy politely asked for my autograph for his book. He is now the only person in the world with my autograph. I'm nobody, just a ex-teacher who knows about bugs. But that was his way of saying thank you.
That was one of the most rewarding days of my life.
Wow...
There were hundreds, probably a thousand or two, people there.
On site there were boa constrictors, a giant cloud rat, a giant millipede, hedgehogs, other snakes, an owl (which flew away!), some BBC camera trickery, and the celebrities. All I had were some spiders, a few slugs and snails, a biggish beetle or two, some earwigs, some woodlice, a toad, and two newts. Nothing special or exotic.
But I saw children's faces lighting up up delight as they held a toad, saw others overcome their fear to let a big house spider onto their hand, saw a little girl stay perfectly still and calm when a big leggy house spider rushed suddenly up her coat and stopped with its legs on her lower lip, heard one little boy stubbonly refusing to go and see the celebrity show he had booked into because "I want to see the spiders, mum".
What an absolute joy! Masses of children, all having a fantastic time. No screaming, no tantrums, no hystrionics, just delight and wonder.
To cap it all off, at the end, one little boy politely asked for my autograph for his book. He is now the only person in the world with my autograph. I'm nobody, just a ex-teacher who knows about bugs. But that was his way of saying thank you.
That was one of the most rewarding days of my life.
Wow...
