• Entries now open: www.brownleetri.com
• 20% discount from 9am Friday 25th until midnight Monday 28th March
• 2016 Brownlee Tri date: Saturday 24th September

The Brownlee Tri will be returning to Harewood House in Leeds for its third consecutive year on Saturday 24th September 2016. Alistair and Jonny Brownlee’s hugely popular triathlon will once again offer Sprint and Super-Sprint distances for individuals and a Sprint relay for teams around the spectacular Harewood course.

As an Easter Bank holiday special and to celebrate the launch, entries will be discounted by 20% until midnight on Monday 28th March.

The 2016 Brownlee Tri will build on the success of the 2015 event, when over 6,000 people descended on the beautiful Harewood estate. With over 1600 registered participants, the event was a huge success bringing together triathletes of all ages and abilities to experience the unique and exciting course. Alistair Brownlee commented “We are excited to bring the Brownlee Tri back to Harewood House again this year. The 2015 event was great and enjoyed by many. We can’t wait to do it all over again, this time even bigger and better.”

The event will once again offer a packed Entertainment Village and the opportunity for competitors and spectators to explore the grounds of the Harewood Estate, including the Bird Garden and Adventure Playground.

To enter online, visit the website here: www.brownleetri.com

Visitors to Harewood House this Easter will be able to enjoy a brand new attraction. From 25^th March, an exciting new Farm Experience will be open to the public featuring giant rabbits, alpacas, pygmy goats and pot-bellied pigs. During the spring school holidays, visitors will be able to speak to the animal keepers about the latest additions and see the pigs being fed their lunch. The Farm Experience is designed to give visitors more to enjoy, more reasons to come back, and to provide even more educational opportunities for schools.

The winter investment has extended beyond the new Farm. The Bird Garden has also seen substantial redevelopment with tonnes of shrubbery removed opening up new views across the Lake, new fencing installed and importantly, the Penguin Pool has been renovated. Brand new rock work has been hand sculpted, refreshed nest burrows created and a new archway within the pool constructed. The welcome addition of six new Humboldt Penguins to the colony should provide greater opportunities for them to breed successfully this year (we hope!).

Nicholas Dowling, Bird Garden and Farm Experience Manager said, “The new Humboldt’s are a great addition to the colony. They have settled in well and have bonded with the existing birds which is always a relief.”

Learning sits at the heart of the winter project work. Refreshed interpretation in both the Farm and Bird Garden sit alongside a new Minibeast Trail which has been specifically designed to support the protection of native wildlife here in the UK.

Christopher Ussher, Chief Executive of Harewood House Trust said, “Harewood is pleased and excited to be launching both the Farm Experience and the redeveloped the Bird Garden. Education is at the core of the message and we want families to join us this spring to enjoy everything that’s on offer.”

The project work is part of a three year development plan for Harewood with more work in the Bird Garden due to complete later this year.

Harewood has regularly been used as a backdrop for filming; this winter is no different! During December and on into spring, Harewood will be used as a location for new ITV drama, Victoria, which will air on ITV. The ambitious 8-part drama follows the early life of Queen Victoria, from her ascension to the throne at the tender age of 18, through to her courtship and marriage to Prince Albert. Jenna Coleman (Doctor Who, Death Comes to Pemberley, Dancing on the Edge) will star as a young Queen Victoria.

Jenna Coleman said: “I am delighted to be cast as Queen Victoria in this ambitious drama of her life. She is a vivid, strong, inspirational and utterly fascinating woman in British history and I can’t wait to tell her story.”

BAFTA-nominated actor Rufus Sewell (The Man in the High Castle, Parade’s End, The Pillars of the Earth) has been cast alongside Jenna Coleman in the series.

Rufus Sewell stars as Lord Melbourne, Victoria’s first prime minister. The two immediately connected and their intimate friendship became a popular source of gossip that threatened to destabilise the Government – angering both Tory and Whigs alike.

Jenna and Rufus are joined by a stellar ensemble cast including Paul Rhys (The Assets, Borgia, Being Human) as Sir John Conroy, the ambitious controller of the Duchess of Kent’s household, who controlled Victoria’s upbringing, hoping to rule through her, when she came to the throne. Peter Firth (Spooks, Undeniable, World Without End) is the Queen’s conniving uncle the Duke of Cumberland and Catherine Flemming (Simones Labyrinth, No Place to Go) plays the Duchess of Kent, Queen Victoria’s mother.

Eve Myles (You, Me & Them, Broadchurch, Torchwood) plays Mrs Jenkins, the Queen’s senior dresser and Adrian Schiller (Suffragette, Residue, Endeavour) is Penge, the Household Steward. Nichola McAuliffe (Agatha Raisin: The Quiche of Death, Coronation Street) is the ruthless Duchess of Cumberland, Daniela Holtz (Phoenix, Der Verdacht) is Victoria’s governess and confidante Baroness Lehzen, and Nell Hudson (Outlander, Call the Midwife, Les Bohemes) plays the mysterious new member of the household, Miss Skerrett. Tommy-Lawrence Knight (The Sarah Jane Adventures) also joins the royal household as the hall boy, Brodie.

Nigel Lindsay (You, Me and the Apocalypse, The Tunnel, The Fear) is Sir Robert Peel, the leader of the Tory party. Alice Orr-Ewing (The Theory of Everything, Pramface) is cast as Lady Flora Hastings, lady-in-waiting to Victoria’s mother, the Duchess of Kent.

Mammoth Screen, producers of Poldark (BBC One) and Endeavour (ITV), and the series is created and written by acclaimed novelist Daisy Goodwin, in her screenwriting debut.

The series will open with a 90-minute episode, followed by 7 one-hour episodes. Tom Vaughan (Doctor Foster, He Knew He Was Right, Starter For Ten) opens the series as director and Paul Frift (Doctor Who, That Day We Sang, Room at the Top) will produce the landmark series.

See ITV Press for more details.

Men on roof of Harewood House. Centre front is Joe Pattison. Joe was from Newcastle and worked for a Newcastle firm on the electrics in the house in 1929. The workers lived in huts in the park whilst the work was done.

Records for over 1000 people who were once employed at Harewood House can now be researched online at servants.harewood.org. The site, which is free to use, is a resource for history enthusiasts, school groups, local people and anyone interested in knowing more about the staff who ran Harewood House. The digitised database, which stretches between 1749 and 1980, includes fascinating insights into the people who kept Harewood House operational.

Where information exists, records of past staff include dates of employment, lists of job roles held, salaries, images and any notes which may have been gathered. Visitors to the website can search through professions including Butlers, Housekeepers, Farm Workers and Lady’s Maids. More unusual roles which can be found include Oddman, Postillions and even a Rabbit Catcher.

“Harewood has many stories, many histories. This database gives access to the lives of the wide range of people who have lived and worked here – it’s fascinating stuff, chronicling the changing face of Harewood from generation to generation through personal memories and reminiscences.” Said David Lascelles, Earl of Harewood.

Research has been carried out within Harewood’s archives and from collated information submitted by members of the public.

“We’re thrilled to see the Servants’ Database online. It’s taken several years to pull the information together and we look forward to seeing it grow in the future. ” Said Anna Dewsnap, Head of Collections.

The database also enables users to share records via social media, submit updates and include their own information should they wish to.

To celebrate the launch of the Servants’ Database, Harewood is holding Summer Discovery Days throughout August Bank Holiday. The event, which runs between Saturday 29^th August and Monday 31^st August, explores the quirky histories behind Harewood House. Visitors will be able to speak to Harewood’s House Stewards about the Servants’ Database, meet Harewood’s first Housekeeper Elizabeth Burrows, and draw like Turner on the North Front.

With blue skin, these are an unusual bird available to view in the Bird Garden

A penguin that brays like a donkey, a vulture that can reach heights of over 20,000 feet and a parrot that is one of the best mimics of the human voice. These are just three of the species staving off extinction thanks to the help of zoos and aquariums.

The British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA) has compiled a report detailing the top ten birds most reliant on zoos and aquariums for their survival.

The African penguin, the Ecuador Amazon parrot and the Oriental white-backed vulture have all made it on to the list, which highlights some of the best examples of how zoos and aquariums are safeguarding the future of our planet’s wildlife and their habitats.

Dr Andrew Marshall, of BIAZA’s Field Programmes Committee, coordinated the compilation of the list with input from conservation experts based at BIAZA collections. He commented:

“More than one in ten species of bird is globally threatened; and the work zoos and aquariums do in protecting these wonderful animals is integral to the survival of many bird species.

“Zoo conservation work includes research, education, management of habitats and protected areas, improving human livelihoods in developing countries, breeding, reintroduction, environmental sustainability, and engagement with policymakers.

“As we continue to produce these lists, it is becoming more and more evident that the world’s zoos and aquariums are an essential source of funds and expertise for conservation of the natural world.”

The top ten list demonstrates the importance of zoos and aquariums not only for conservation breeding of safety-net populations, but also for their contribution to funding and management of conservation projects in the field, including research, education and support for local communities, as well as protection of crucial wildlife habitats.

Strict criteria were used to select the top ten. All the birds proposed had to be associated with current field initiatives by zoos and/or essential conservation breeding in zoos. Particular importance was given to initiatives which included a management role in the species’ conservation, rather than just providing funds.  Priority was also given to species listed as threatened on the international IUCN Red List of threatened species.

BIAZA’s top ten birds benefitting from zoos and aquariums are:

African penguin: Numbers are plummeting in the wild due to oil spills, overfishing, shifts in food availability and human disturbance.

Bali starling: These are seen as very desirable cage birds, and illegal trapping has brought them to virtual extinction in the wild.

Blue-crowned laughing thrush: The zoo population of this Chinese bird equates to 50% of the total global population.

Ecuador Amazon parrot: With fewer than 600 individuals left, its survival relies on the protection of remaining wild populations and their habitats.

Edwards’s pheasant: There is a small captive population, but it has never been seen or studied by a scientist in the wild.

Madagascar pochard: Just 20-25 Madagascar pochard now survive in the wild.

Northern bald ibis: Pesticide poisoning has had a devastating effect on their numbers but BIAZA members have contributed birds to a successful release programme and populations are slowly increasing.

Oriental white-backed Vulture: Traces of a toxic veterinary drug in farm animal carcases across Asia has decimated populations, but species restoration has been made possible by zoo-based expertise and funding.

Socorro dove: A classic island species, numbers have been devastated by man-introduced pests like rats, cats and goats. Captive breeding has saved it from total extinction.

Visayan tarictic hornbill: Two BIAZA zoos are actively supporting in-situ work to save and restore the wild habitat of this species.

(This list is in alphabetical order)