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    WhaleFest 2011 - Hove Centre, Brighton, UK, Sat 5th - Sun 6th November 

 

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STOP PRESS: WHALEFEST 2011 ATTRACTS THOUSANDS!

Whale watchers and dolphin fans from across the world recently attended Europe’s very first Whale Festival on 5th – 6th November in Brighton, UK.

With well over 2,500 tickets sold, plus hundreds more children, volunteers, exhibitors, VIP guests, and charity workers attending for free – the event has been hailed as a huge success!

Dubbed the largest event of its kind, WhaleFest is now set to become even bigger in 2012.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Amongst the many achievements of WhaleFest 2011 are:

  • Well over 2,500 people from around the world attending the weekend-long event.

 

  • Exhibition space sold out with 60 exhibitors attending, including charities, tour operators and retailers from 15 countries across Europe and beyond.

 

  • Over 500 people participated in the Planet Whale virtual whale watching trip and learnt more about sustainable whale and dolphin watching.

 

  • More than 2,300 people attended talks by experts and wildlife celebrities.

 

  • Clash of the Titans Celebrity Fundraising Event raised over £1,600 for the Shark Trust, Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, HelpLanka, and CARIBWhale.

 

  • Whale and Dolphin Watch Operators Workshop on sustainability sold out with operators attending from as far afield as Australia, Iceland and Madagascar.

 

  • Live whale and dolphin sightings twitter feed reached an estimated 20,000 people.

 

  • Exclusive films including the European premiere of ‘Keiko – the Untold Story’ sold out.

 

  • Extensive national press coverage included BBC TV’s AutumnWatch and BBC South Today, plus BBC Radio 4 and 5, and extensive local radio coverage. Other press coverage included BBC Wildlife Magazine, BBC Things to Do, BBC News website, and a range of regional newspapers and magazines.

 

WHALEFEST 2012 CONFIRMED! FURTHER INFO ON THE DATE AND VENUE TO FOLLOW SHORTLY

 

WHAT YOU SAID ABOUT WHALEFEST 2011

“What an amazing success that was, Ian - due to your hardwork, and Dylan's.  Thanks for making it such a grand experience.  Putting all those like minds together was inspired.  It will have created whole new webs of influence and ideas... I think it was an important occasion, and I look forward to it being even bigger and better (if that's possible) next year.”

Philip Hoare, award-winning author of Leviathan, and Clash of the Titans speaker

 
 
“It was a great pleasure to attend WhaleFest and be part of such a fun and important event. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, met some very interesting people and thank you for all your generous hospitality.”

Mark Brownlow, series producer BBC Ocean Giants, and Clash of the Titans speaker

 

“Just a short email to thank you for the brilliant event WhaleFest. I attended both days with my son and we both had a very good time .The number and topics of the talks and workshops were very good and informative, At times I wished I could have split myself in half to attend two things at once.

The stalls also were very good and gave me lots of ideas for suitable places to go whale watching both near and far. Thank you again to all your staff for organising such I wonderful event and I cannot wait for next year s event. I also want to be off now to go whale spotting to some of the wonderful locations. Thank you.  

Jane Baldwin, member of the public
 

 
“I usually hate that word ‘awesome’ but it’s the only phrase I thought you’d all recognise and understand - for me to use the word about anything is truly awesome in itself! The weekend was a great success and a lot of fun for all, including us stallholders! 

Our amazement at the level of interest was only outdone by our admiration for the amount of work that you all had put in before the event and the slick organisation on the day.  Not to put too fine a point on it, the WhaleFest volunteers were ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT!!  I’m welling up! Upwards and onwards!

Stephen Marsh, BDMLR Operations Manager, running the whale refloatation courses in the Great Hall
 
 
“I just wanted to say congratulations on the huge success and to thank you for letting me participating in WhaleFest. I met so many interesting people and had a great time. I thought the idea with the blubber belly was absolutely fantastic, and all the talks were really interesting, which made it difficult to choose which to go to! I really hope that Planet Whale will continue to grow and improve the whale watching industry worldwide.”

Lindis Berglund, Whalesafari AS – Whale Watch Operator, Norway, Stand 16
 
 
“I just wanted to say a big thank you from myself and also from MARINElife for the very enjoyable first WhaleFest which we all found a superb event. It really gave us the opportunity to engage with our volunteers, supporters, other organisations and the public.”
 
Adrian Shephard, MARINElife – charity, Stand 19

  
 
“With several thousand people turning up over the weekend, the event was a great success.”

Vanessa Williams-Grey, Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society – charity, Stand 11
 
 
“I wanted to congratulate you all on a fantastic staging of WhaleFest this past weekend. It really was a well produced and all inclusive event!

Thanks also for including us in the program, a great opportunity for Dominica and for our services. We have already had some enquiries. I will need to get Caribwhale onto Planet Whale as well!”
 
Carla Armour – tour operator, Dominica, and Clash of the Titans Winner!
 
 
“Just thought I’d say well done again organizing Whalefest this weekend. From my perspective (and my kids who came along too!) I think it went very well, and you both did an excellent job getting everything in place, as it all seemed to run very smoothly. See you at next year’s event!”

Rob Deaville, UK Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme, Zoological Society of London, Stand 36

 

 

OUR THANKS TO YOU!

 

PLANET WHALE WOULD LIKE TO SAY A 'BLUE WHALE SIZED' THANKS TO EVERYBODY THAT ATTENDED WHALEFEST, IN WHATEVER CAPACITY. TOGETHER WE CREATED A COMMUNITY OF PEOPLE PASSIONATE ABOUT WHALES AND DOLPHINS. TOGETHER, WE WILL GO FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH!

 

A SPECIAL THANKS MUST GO TO OUR INCREDIBLE VOLUNTEERS. THROUGH YOUR ENTHUSIASM, DEDICATION, ENERGY, AND KINDNESS, WE WERE ABLE TO BRING THIS EVENT TO LIFE. WE THANK YOU ALL FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEARTS.

 

IAN ROWLANDS & DYLAN WALKER
Co-Founders

PLANET WHALE

 
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