15th - 24th September
This year’s festival will feature TV Star Nadeem Perera
TV star Nadeem Perera will be the big draw at this year’s Planet Purbeck Festival.The wildlife presenter (pictured above) – recently seen on Springwatch and David Attenborough’s Saving Our Wild Isles – will be at Swanage’s Mowlem Theatre, on Saturday 23rd September, to front a lavish “Celebration of Purbeck” night. (Book Tickets – at the Planet Purbeck Website).
Nadeem, regarded as the biggest up-and-coming talent in wildlife broadcasting, will talk about his passionate drive to make nature accessible to all, particularly young disadvantaged people, and his groundbreaking birdwatching group Flock Together.
Purbeck: Let’s Go Wild
Continuing the TV theme, the evening will also feature the premiere of a film called Purbeck: Let’s Go Wild especially made for the occasion by BBC and Netflix filmmaker Sue Western.
She has been interviewing scores of people in the area, from five-year-olds to 85-year-olds, to find out what the word “nature” means to them.
Sue said: “I have been especially blown away by the children and young people I have met.
“They have been so honest and wise and funny, with a clarity that is both refreshing and extremely hopeful.”
Festival Highlights
The free-ticket Mowlem evening, on September 23, is the centrepiece of the ten-day festival during which Planet Purbeck will continue its twin aims of bringing people together to help nature thrive and keeping pressure on the powerful to tackle climate change.
Other highlights among a host of events to be held across the peninsula from September 15-24 include a “camp-out” at Burnbake with live music and food; a mini festival within a festival at Sandy Hill Arts in Corfe Castle, a welly-wanging competition at Norden Farm’s Farmers Market and a shoreline safari at Kimmeridge, along with the traditional autumn equinox swim at Studland’s South Beach.
Festival organiser Luke M Luke said Nadeem’s presence and Sue’s film are part of Planet Purbeck’s drive to attract a wider following, particularly among young people.
He added: “We are extremely excited to have Nadeem with us and I’m glad to say he was really drawn to the vibrancy and energy we are putting into the festival.
“Sue’s films are brilliant and we’re confident there won’t be a dry eye in the Mowlem when she shows her new one.”
Although many of the festival’s events are familiar from years past, Luke is hoping for a greater emphasis on “mass” gatherings.
He said: “We want to work with our event hosts to help make new friends and connections that will ultimately play a part in Purbeck’s nature recovery journey.”
You can find full details of the festival and a survey on Purbeck’s rewilding on the Planet Purbeck website.
