The World Owl Centre

We are finally there; we have completed on the lease for the new World Owl Centre. Yes you read that correctly. After many years of raising hopes and then then them being dashed at the final hurdle, we are over the line for the new site, we finally have the keys. And oh my, what a site it is!!!

Those of you who made it to the AGM will have seen just how close to perfect the building is. It is on the site of the former Small Animal Care Unit. We need to do a little bit of Structural work to make it fit our needs precisely but, it is all effectively there already.

Two miles from Junction 40 on the M6 there is easy road and rail access, with two pedestrian paths from Penrith in what was the campus of Newton Rigg Agricultural College. Some of this campus is currently being converted to a luxurious hotel by our Landlord with some Air B&B's included, so we will have a ready-made audience on site. Two miles down the road is a venue which attracts 300,000 visitors per year. We will be happy with a fraction of that number.

Opening Late 2025

If..... everything goes to plan

On arrival you will find a 75 space car park with disabled spaces. The Gardens in the front are well maintained and will give us space for other exhibitors if we have Conservation Open Days or other events. The Entrance way is covered and leads into the Rydal Building which consists of two wings running off from a wonderful reception area, with offices and a Lecture Theatre.

To the left are toilets, storage rooms and two teaching rooms which we plan to knock through to create a Kitchen and Tearoom, from which we will have a door out into the courtyard where more seating will be on offer including a "Talking table" for anyone to sit at who would like some company. We will be addressing loneliness and Mental Health issues as part of our offering.

Turning Right from the reception leads to two further classrooms which will be converted to retail space. Visitors will be brought back out through this as they leave the Centre so we can relieve them of any pennies they may have left over at the end of their visit.

Opposite this is another Lecture room which we will develop as a resource centre for staff and visitors. It has always been Tony's dream to have a definitive Owl Library this will be housed here.

Further down the corridor will be a staff only operations area with food prep for the Owls. But maybe, one of the most exciting developments will be our hospital and rehab quarters which will allow us to treat and rehabilitate our birds and Wild birds that have been brought in. Attached to the outside of this are a series of Metal Aviaries which just need, emptied, disinfected, solid roofing attached for Biosecurity then boxes and perches installed to be ready for use.

For the visiting public-

Leaving the building by the courtyard there will be a short walk to 4 acres of Mixed woodland with very little lower storey growth other than nettles.This was used for horticultural teaching so already has water supplied and has Electricity right next door. We will crown raise the trees and develop a meandering walk through the woodland. With extra planting we will screen the aviaries, create an improved woodland habitat and display WOT's collection of Owls in as natural a setting as possible. Within the entrance to the woodland there will be an indoor flying arena to keep the Ambassador Owls safe as well as create an All-weather attraction which can double up as a conference facility with a difference. It isn't every day that you can visit an Owl collection during the break in conference.

While we won't need planning permission for the Rydal building, we will need permission to develop the woodland. Work has started on this application already and the generosity of local businesses has been staggering with several companies giving their time completely free of charge or at a drastically reduced level. A special shout out must be given to Jacinta Cooper who has given and is still giving weeks of work free of charge to get us over the line taking every opportunity to explain and encourage them to offer their services to such a worthy cause and is now getting everything decorated with fellow Trustee Mike Fielder.Anthea Turner from "Planning Branch" who has given us advice free of charge in the past but has made it her mission to obtain planning permission with as little outlay from WOT as possible. She has manged to wrangle a free Ecology survey and Architect as well as a topographical survey at a dramatically reduced price. We will list and thank everyone at the end of the article.

The plan is to open in July 2025 which is, an exceptionally tight timetable and is reliant on planning and the Zoo Licence application being a smooth process. In that respect the real work is about to start. We managed to make things presentable for the AGM, now we must sort out the ground works behind the Rydal building, paint anything that doesn't move, remove old animal cages that don't make the grade and rebuild those that we like the location of round the Rydal building. This will cost a lot of money, but we hope that the wonderful businesses and friends of The World Owl Trust will continue to astound us with their generosity. 

There are lots of ways you, your families, friends and associated businesses can help - we are looking for volunteers to form work parties for beautifying everything and for clearing paths, building nest boxes, and anything else you can think of.

We are also looking for sponsorship of aviaries and donations towards the materials needed to build those aviaries. Jacinta and Anthea are on a mission to find someone or some people to build the aviaries and install the paths free of charge. (That will be no mean feat). Hinting – just a little, we have given you an idea of the sorts of things we will be looking for in this editions word search 😉

Although fund raising will always be an on-going necessity, there will be a "Bragging Board" (for want of a better description) – dedicated to the generosity of sponsors and donors that help with the initial reinstitution of the World Owl Centre which we would like to see become the world's leadingteaching and treatment centre for the care conservation and breeding of Owls, as well as a popular tourist attraction. 

Huge thanks to the following people and companies 

• Anthea Jones from Planning Branch https://www.planningbranch.com/about-us/

• Jake Woodhouse from Woodhouse Site Engineering Limited

• Rusty at Vinyl FX https://www.vinylfx.net

• Colin Aimers Kingmoor Consultancy https://www.kingmoorconsulting.co.uk/about