Supporters to fete chimp expert and local hero, Dr Jane Goodall

7:00pm Tuesday 18th May 2010

By Darren Slade

WORLD-renowned campaigner and conservationist Jane Goodall is finally to be celebrated in her home town of Bournemouth.

Her ground-breaking studies of chimpanzees, along with her educational and environmental work, have made Dr Goodall a household name across much of the world.

But she enjoys a much lower profile in Bournemouth, where she still lives part of the year in the house that once belonged to her parents.

On Saturday, May 21, 2011, Dr Goodall will introduce a new film about her work, called Jane’s Journey, and there will be a host of events on May 20 and 21.

Gary and Anita are long-time admirers and Anita recalls playing at being Jane Goodall.

“The forest behind my house was my jungle and I spoke to my cats as if I was Jane speaking to her chimps.”

She remembers reading in National Geographic as a child about Dr Goodall’s ground-breaking work with chimpanzees in Gombe.

She said: “I would see Jane Goodall in there when she was quite young and she looked so natural and almost a part of the landscape, so natural and laid back.

“I thought ‘Wouldn’t it be amazing to be like Jane out there?’ “To be able to develop that relationship with another species was always interesting to me.”

The idea for the local event took root after Gary wrote to the Daily Echo commending an interview with Dr Goodall by Angela Young.

Dr Goodall sent a message of thanks for the support and, after an exchange of emails, the Dalkins were invited to dinner at the scientist’s Bournemouth home.

Out of this meeting came the idea that, working with the Jane Goodall Institute, they could organise a celebration of her work locally.

This year sees Gombe 50, a celebration of a half-century since Jane Goodall arrived at Lake Tanganyika in Tanzania to begin her work observing chimpanzees.

Although Gombe 50 was intended as a global celebration, the Jane Goodall Institute wanted more to happen in the UK, said Gary.

“This film, Jane’s Journey, is being made as part of it and will be released later this year or early next.”

Next year’s events in Bournemouth will also promote Roots & Shoots, the youth movement which Dr Goodall started and which has 10,000 branches around the world.

Information about Jane Goodall’s work is also at janegoodall.org.uk and rootsnshoots.org.uk