The two days of events during the October half-term holidays also featured spine-tingling STEM (science technology engineering and maths) themed activities to suit children of all ages including exploring magic potions for wannabe wizards and witches and a creepy ‘Make Your Own Blood’ session for budding vampires.
Isis Breach-Birchall, aged 11 from Goole
A ‘dead famous gravestones walk’ and ‘scattered skeletons’ game run by the Drax visitor centre team rounded off the family day out at the 350-acre nature reserve at Barlow, near Selby, which forms part of the power station site.
The drop-in event saw almost 500 children and adults join the ghoulishly good fun at the nature reserve. Developed by Drax in the early 1970s, it is now home to a variety of wildlife and is also a valuable educational resource for schools, colleges and local nature groups.
Jane Breach, Community Engagement & Visitor Centre Team Leader at Drax, said: “We’ve not been able to run Halloween events at the Skylark Centre for the last two years due to Covid restrictions, so it was fantastic to see families and visitors of all ages enjoying the half-term STEM activities with us this year. There will be plenty more great events coming up next year and we look forward to seeing everyone again then.”
Amber Kilmartin, aged 8 from Selby
Alexa Kilmartin from Selby, who attended the event with her two daughters, said: “This was our first time visiting the Skylark Centre. It was recommended to us by a friend and I’m really glad we know about it now. We’ve had a great day, the girls have loved the activities especially making their own blood. We’ll definitely look out for what events are running here in the future.”
Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, Drax Power Station welcomed more than 12,000 visitors each year. The power station reopened earlier this year to welcome schools and colleges for educational tours.
For information on future events at Drax and the Skylark nature reserve, visit Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/DraxGroup/ or the Drax website at https://www.drax.com/visit-us/#events.
ENDS
Main photo caption: Paisley Jackson, aged 6 from Selby and Lottie Swift, aged 3 from Goole
Media contacts:
Megan Hopgood
Communications Officer
E: [email protected]
T: 07936 350 175
About Drax
Drax Group’s purpose is to enable a zero carbon, lower cost energy future and in 2019 announced a world-leading ambition to be carbon negative by 2030, using bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) technology.
Drax’s around 3,000 employees operate across three principal areas of activity – electricity generation, electricity sales to business customers and compressed wood pellet production and supply to third parties. For more information visit www.drax.com
Power generation:
Drax owns and operates a portfolio of renewable electricity generation assets in England and Scotland. The assets include the UK’s largest power station, based at Selby, North Yorkshire, which supplies five percent of the country’s electricity needs.
Having converted Drax Power Station to use sustainable biomass instead of coal it has become the UK’s biggest renewable power generator and the largest decarbonisation project in Europe. It is also where Drax is piloting the groundbreaking negative emissions technology BECCS within its CCUS (Carbon Capture Utilisation and Storage) Incubation Area.
Its pumped storage, hydro and energy from waste assets in Scotland include Cruachan Power Station – a flexible pumped storage facility within the hollowed-out mountain Ben Cruachan.
The Group also aims to build on its BECCS innovation at Drax Power Station with a target to deliver 4 million tonnes of negative CO2 emissions each year from new-build BECCS outside of the UK by 2030 and is currently developing models for North American and European markets.
Pellet production and supply:
The Group has 18 operational pellet plants and developments with nameplate production capacity of around 5 million tonnes a year.
Drax is targeting 8 million tonnes of production capacity by 2030, which will require the development of over 3 million tonnes of new biomass pellet production capacity. The pellets are produced using materials sourced from sustainably managed working forests and are supplied to third party customers in Europe and Asia for the generation of renewable power.
Drax’s pellet plants supply biomass used at its own power station in North Yorkshire, England to generate flexible, renewable power for the UK’s homes and businesses, and also to customers in Europe and Asia.
Customers:
Drax supplies renewable electricity to UK businesses, offering a range of energy-related services including energy optimisation, as well as electric vehicle strategy and management.
To find out more go to the website www.energy.drax.com
