Rodbaston Visit

Thursday 7th May
I catch up with the car convey heading to Rodbaston from the Cross Keys. This evening we have a tour around the Rodbaston Campus of South Staffordshire College. The college is on the doorstep of Penkridge, and yet I’ve never visited. The 10 of us our met by Chris Mitchell, Animal Centre Manager, who acts as a guide for the evening, and I’m genuinely surprised by what we find. I’d expected a few sheep, the odd goat and a cow or two, but it’s radically different. Over recent years the college has been transformed into a Zoological centre; Chris tells us that they are both licenced for zoo animals and firearms – the two are a necessary combination!. We start with an aviary area, and some noisy birds. Into the nocturnal area we see bats (and a comment that we’d already seen more in 10 minutes than an entire, wet, evening in the Wyre forest last year!). Continuing around the visitor centre (much of which is in the old pig farm) we see exotic fish, meerkats, snakes, spiders, lizards, porcupines, rabbits – housed with plenty of space in the old pig sties!, sheep, turkeys and lemurs. It’s a fascinating tour and Chris is a knowledgeable guide.
It’s getting dark by the time we leave the centre, but a short trip back to the village, and a couple of beers over a curry whilst Chris tells us tales of life amongst primates (his old Zoo experiences – not the students at Staffordshire college!
The Animal Centre is open to the public at weekend and during school holidays from 10am to 5pm.