The Centre for Fortean Zoology is fast approaching its 20th birthday, and we are very proud of what we have achieved in the last 17 years. However, the time has come for change. It is time for us to break out of the ghetto, stop preaching to the converted, and become part of the real world at last. As a direct result of the Weird Weekend being relocated to its present rural location, each year we have more and more "normal" people as attendees, and as these aforementioned "normal" people become closer, both socially and intellectually, to us of the CFZ, several things become apparent.

The most important of these is that forteana need not, and indeed should not, be a cultural and spiritual ghetto inhabited by self-righteous weirdos. We have spent much of the last 17 years trying to legitimise what we do in the public eye, and through an annual conference we have - we believe - done quite well. In our little corner of North Devon, at least, subjects of a fortean nature are taken far more pragmatically by the man and woman in the street than is the case in other parts of the country.

WHY THE OUTREACH PROGRAMME?

We believe that fortean zoology is a perfect catalyst to help the aims of both the Educational Outreach, and Natural History Outreach programmes. One of the reasons that we have spent so much of the last seventeen years trying to steer cryptozoology and the allied disciplines which make up the portmanteau discipline of `Fortean Zoology` away from the cod-spirituality and New Age nonsense of the `Mind, Body and Spirit` brigade, is that we believe that these subjects – especially cryptozoology in its purest form – deserve to be taken seriously as scientific disciplines.

To misquote the oft used line from Hamlet there IS more in heaven and earth than is dreamt of in the philosophy of much modern science, and certainly than is included in the cynical mishmash that is much of the National Curriculum. We believe that, although a great deal of what is written about cryptozoology, especially on the internet, is nonsense, a great deal isn’t. We believe that through learning about myths and monsters, and how some of them may be true, and others most certainly are not, children can be taught not to blindly accept what they are told, but how to reason and use critical thinking.

We also believe that the search for mystery animals, even on a small scale, can kindle the fascination with the natural world, which is so sadly lacking in so much of modern youth. One hesitates to appear pretentious and quote Shakespeare twice in two paragraphs, but our ultimate aim is that the children with whom we work “Find tongues in trees, books in running brooks, sermons in stones, and good in everything”

LINKS TO SPECIFIC OUTREACH PROGRAMMES

The Museum Outreach Programme

The Natural History Outreach Programme

The Educational Outreach Programme