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Chair of Trustees’ statement
I am delighted to introduce our annual report for 2021 – a year of outstanding success and progress for our charity.
After the turbulence of 2020, when many of our planned projects were put on hold, we began 2021 with a continued focus on consolidating and protecting our finances – particularly during the third lockdown, which closed the zoo from early January to April.
The response of our staff, volunteers, members and supporters when the zoo was able to reopen was absolutely magnificent. We welcomed our highestever monthly number of visitors in August, and had exceptionally strong ticket sales throughout the remainder of the year – including record attendances at our annual winter event, The Lanterns. We ended the year with over 130,000 members – our highest-ever number.
With such terrific support, we delivered a robust financial performance for the full year, which has enabled us to return our focus to our ambitious plans for the future. Our Strategic Development Plan has been in place for a number of years, and sets out our exciting vision for the development of the zoo site. We launched our Conservation Masterplan in March 2021, bringing together in one document for the first time the ways in which we intend to fulfil our charity’s mission of preventing extinction. These range from enhancing biodiversity locally to safeguarding threatened species through the management of the zoo collection, participating in world-leading research, contributing to international projects that protect critically endangered species, training conservationists and empowering people to live more sustainably. It’s to the immense credit of our staff, led by our new Chief Executive Jamie Christon, that we have been able to further our conservation agenda in this way in a year when there continued to be significant operational challenges.
My fellow Trustees, who give their time freely, have made a huge contribution to shaping our plans – and I am immensely grateful to them for their dedication and expertise. Their role as custodians of the long-term future of the charity has been very ably supported by our Youth Board, who provide us with fresh perspectives and remind us of our responsibility to future generations.
I hope that you will enjoy reading about these plans, as well as our achievements of 2021, in this report. Thank you for your unwavering support that has made all of this possible, and we look forward to welcoming you to Chester Zoo throughout 2022!
Malcolm Ardron – Chair of Trustees
STRATEGIC REPORT
Reasons to support us................................................ 6 2021 at a glance......................................................... 8 2021 highlights ........................................................... 9 Our mission – Preventing extinction......................... 10 Our Conservation Masterplan................................... 12 The regions where we work...................................... 14 Field projects............................................................ 16 Q&A – Jamie Christon, CEO .................................... 18 The secret life of the zoo.......................................... 20
Case study – Our people in an extraordinary year ................................................. 22
Our sustainable zoo.................................................. 24
Case study – Bid to rescue Madeira’s lost snails................................................................ 26
Financial review 2021............................................... 28 Working with partners............................................... 32
Case study – Commercial recovery from COVID-19 ....................................................... 34
Risks & uncertainties................................................ 36 Stakeholder engagement ......................................... 38
