| Molly Sparkles at Junior SEA LIFE Conference |
|
A passionate presentation on cruelty of whaling by an 11-year-old Oundle, Peterborough girl was voted the ´most impressive´ at a unique National Junior SEA LIFE Conference this week.
Molly Clayton´s moving and graphic indictment of the whaling industry topped a secret ballot among guests and delegates at the Conference at Birmingham´s Hilton Metropole hotel. | 
|
| Molly was one of nine delegates representing SEA LIFE Centres and Sanctuaries across the UK, and her success means that the SEA LIFE network is now likely to mount a Europe-wide anti-whaling campaign in 2009. |
 |
″The standard of presentation and the emotive response speakers got from their listeners was at a level much higher than you would normally expect at a ´grown-up´ professional conference,″ said the Marine Conservation Society´s communications director Richard Harrington.
″Seeing how well each of these individuals understood and then communicated the varied threats that our SEA LIFE faces is really encouraging for the future.″ |
|
Molly and her fellow delegates enjoyed a guided tour of the National SEA LIFE Centre, Birmingham, and tucked into a special Conference dinner with TV wildlife presenter Nick Baker.
The chief executive of the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society Chris Stroud and the Shark Trust´s director of conservation Ali Hood also attended, and both applauded the quality of the work produced by all the delegates. |
|
| Molly, who represented the Hunstanton SEA LIFE Sanctuary, had several members of her audience shedding tears on behalf of the much-beleaguered leviathans of the deep. The other delegates and their topics were:- |
|
Kwabena Tenkorang, 11, of Potter´s Bar - Overfishing.
Ricky Froud, 13, Martham, Norfolk - Shark finning. Hannah Layton, 10, Tonbridge - Coral reef erosion. Abigale Rudland, 14, of Weymouth - Beluga whales. Matthew Newsome, 14, of Scarborough - Shark bycatch. Amber Rowland, 11, of Bolton - Sea turtle conservation. Tierney Carter, 11, of Oban, Scotland - Seal shooting. Rebecca Johnson, 13, of Hayle, Cornwall - Canadian seal cull. The selection of ´whaling´ as the winning presentation was mirrored by the choice made at a corresponding Conference in Germany last month. Following the success of both Conferences, plans are already being laid for similar events next year…and for an International Junior SEA LIFE Conference in 2010. |
|
Issued by the SEA LIFE Centres For more details, please contact Mark Oakley on 01202 440040 or 07977 990517 Press Release date: 17th July 2008 |
|
Notes to editors:
Click on the photo above of your choice to see a larger version Top photo - Pictured with naturalist and broadcaster Nick Baker as a diver carries a symbolic ‘time-bomb’ earth through the ocean tank at the National SEA LIFE Centre, are from left to right: Standing - Tierney Carter, Rebecca Johnson, Amber Rowland (Nick Baker), Ricky Froud, Matthew Newsome and Abigale Rudland. Kneeling - Molly Clayton, Hannah Layton and Kwabe Tenkorang. Middle photo - L-R Back Row - Chris Stroud, Chief Executive WDCS; TV wildlife presenter Nick Baker; Shark Trust Director of Conservation Ali Hood; Marine Conservation Society Communications Director Richard Harrington. Middle Row - Molly Clayton, Matthew Newsome, Ricky Froud, Rebecca Johnson, Tierney Carter, Kwabe Tenkorang. Front row - Amber Rowland, Abigale Rudland, Hannah Layton. Bottom photo - L-R Chris Stroud, Chief Executive WDCS; TV Wildlife Presenter Nick Baker; ″Molly Clayton″; Shark Trust Director of Conservation Ali Hood; Marine Conservation Society Communications Director Richard Harrington. |
|