Online festival celebrates Gilbert White’s 300th birthday

Gilbert White’s House was due to celebrate a yearlong programme of events celebrating the 300th anniversary of Gilbert White’s birth with the climax being a large event on 18 July, the day Gilbert White was born.  

However, due to COVID-19, the event has been cancelled and will be celebrated a year later on 18 July 2021 – marking Gilbert White’s 301st birthday. Instead, the museum based in Selborne, where Gilbert White lived, is commemorating Gilbert White’s 300th birthday with an online festival.    

The festival will be hosted on the museum’s You Tube Channel, and will include the following speakers:

  • Laurence Rose, naturalist, author and director of the RSPB’s Back from the Brink Project, speaking on Gilbert White’s legacy on nature writers.
  • Mike Pratt, CEO of the Northumberland Wildlife Trust.
  • Stephanie West from the Natural History Museum on her research tracking Gilbert White through London.
  • Tim Sparks from the Woodland Trust and Nature’s Calendar.
  • Louise Horton on her research into Gilbert’s niece Molly White.
  • David Standing who was gardener at the museum for 37 years and who has been researching Gilbert White for most of his life.  

The festival will also feature tours of the house and garden, messages from friends of the museum and lovers of Gilbert White, art projects based on Gilbert White and a look at the moths found in Selborne 

The festival will begin at 9:00 on Saturday 18 July and run into the evening with content going live throughout the day. This is the perfect day’s entertainment for anyone with an interest in the natural world.  

You can follow the action online by following the hashtag #GW300Online.  

While the online festival is free, Gilbert White’s House will be very grateful to receive donations. 

 

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