Chester Zoo is currently hiring someone to look after its capybaras and meerkats, and you can get your applications in the for role now.
If you’re after a career change in 2025, then it surely can’t get much better than this?
The UK’s biggest charity zoo currently has a vacancy open for a Keeper to join the Twilight team on a full-time permanent basis, and according to the job description on its website, the new recruit will need to provide the highest standards of animal husbandry, welfare, and exhibitory to the varied group of animals under the care of this particular team.
Chester Zoo is responsible for one of Europe’s largest and most-diverse animal communities, and this is your chance to be a part of what makes it so special.
For this full-time role, the zoo is looking for an ‘enthusiastic, dynamic, and motivated’ individual to provide extensive knowledge and proven expertise in caring for and managing a wide variety of species within a zoological environment.
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Chester Zoo is hiring a new keeper to look after its capybaras and meerkats / Credit: Chester Zoo
Some of the species under the care of the Twilight team include rodents, Xenarthra, Macropods, small carnivores, and the zoo’s free flight bat habitat.
The successful applicant will be tasked with supporting the Assistant Team Manager in the daily management of the section, along with leading, training, and working closely with other team members under the direction of the Team Manager to make sure all the highest standards are met.
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There will be also be a requirement to supervise voluntary workplace students working alongside our keeper team and to cover visitor experiences as part of the role.
The ideal candidate will have ‘substantial experience’ working in a zoological or conservation–breeding facility, a HND or degree level qualification in a zoological related science, and must be competent in the use of computers and basic software packages.
Applications for the role are now live / Credit: Chester Zoo
The job description also emphasises the need for ‘excellent communication skills’ and a ‘strong work ethic’.
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The role of ‘Lead Keeper – Twilight’ is 40 hours per week, with the working week being 10 days out of 14, including weekends and bank holidays as rostered, and the salary being £29,260.20 per annum.
Working at Chester Zoo comes with an ‘excellent benefits package’ and loads of perks too, including a generous pension scheme, 33 days paid holidays per year, a healthcare plan, pension scheme, a staff pass so that you can visit the zoo for free, and complimentary tickets for friends and family.
The closing date for applications is next Sunday (27 April 2025), and you can find out more and apply for the role here.
Featured Image – Chester Zoo
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8 million Brits are predicted to write their Christmas cards using AI this year, new research finds
Emily Sergeant
Millions of Brits are predicted to use AI to help them write their Christmas cards this year.
According to some new Royal Mail research, AI is most likely to be used for researching gifts (19%), festive party ideas (13%), and decoration inspiration (13%) throughout this festive season, but in what is a revelation many will find surprising – and even alarming – it’ll even be used for the timeless tradition of sending Christmas cards.
2,000 UK adults who celebrate Christmas were surveyed by the postal service early last month on how they plan to make use of technology this festive season.
The new research found that 11% of respondents will be using AI to help write the messages for their Christmas cards, which works out to be around eight million people.
It’s the under-55s who are driving the trend, as you can probably imagine – with 57% of this age group planning to lean on AI for guidance, compared to just 14% of those over 55.
Oh, and you’ll want to keep an extra eye on the Christmas cards that come from the men in your life too, as men are 67% more likely than women to use AI to help them.
Eight million Brits are predicted to write their Christmas cards using AI this year / Credit: KoolShooters
Although it may be largely frowned upon, it’s fairly easy to see why people are turning to tech to find the right words, as the Royal Mail’s research found that nearly one in five (19%) Brits say they don’t know what to write in cards, and this figure rises even further to 31% when it comes to 18-24-year-olds.
Despite the use of AI as a helping hand, three quarters of Brits (74%) do still think it’s important to keep the tradition of sending handwritten Christmas cards alive.
“AI is becoming part of everyday life for many people,” says technology journalist and broadcaster, Georgie Barrat. “So it’s natural we’ll see it used during the festive season. When it comes to writing cards, it can help you go beyond a simple ‘Merry Christmas’ and choose words that feel more unique.
“Often, people know what they want to say – they just need a little help expressing it.”
Richard Travers, who is the Managing Director of Letters at Royal Mail, concluded: “No matter what you include in your card, or how you choose to write your message, cards are truly a way of spreading festive cheer.”
Featured Image – Richard Bell (via Unsplash)
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Manchester’s 2025 Christmas Parade in pictures as tens of thousands turn out for festive event
Emily Sergeant
Tens of thousands of residents flocked to the city centre this past weekend for Manchester’s annual Christmas Parade.
Over the past few years since it first took place in 2022, Manchester Christmas Parade has become a festive favourite with both locals and visitors alike, and with more than 400 participants and performers gracing the city’s main shopping streets this year, it’s really not hard to see why it’s a much-loved fixture in the city’s countdown to Christmas.
Seen by many as the heartwarming event of the festive season, Manchester Christmas Parade was even ‘bigger and better’ than last year’s fantastic crowdpleaser.
Even a drop of the classic Manchester rain didn’t stop play on the day, as the fabulous festive Parade made its way through the packed city streets to the smiles and cheers of all those watching.
Despite the Manchester weather, tens of thousands of you turned out to make Sunday’s Christmas Parade truly magical. 🎅 👼 🥁
A huge thank you to everyone who joined us for the heart-warming event of the season.
“I remember thinking at the end of our fabulous Manchester Christmas Parade last year that we would never be able to top it,” commented Cllr Pat Karney, Manchester City Council’s Christmas spokesperson. “But this year’s parade has been off-the-scale brilliant – it was so much fun and you could see how much all the children loved it.
“The city centre was heaving, it felt like millions of Mancs had turned out for the parade, and what a performance we put on for them.”
The streets were filled with music and laughter this year, as well as the return of Manchester’s very-own Elf Express, complete with VIP passenger Santa hitching a ride on his way to the North Pole, together with his trusty team of elves.
Tens of thousands of people turned out for Manchester Christmas Parade 2025 this past weekend / Credit: Manchester City Council
Not only that, but Nutcracker-inspired toy soldiers also sweept their way through the Parade on segways, alongside a roaming Christmas tree, a pair of gentle giant-sized reindeer, a stunning arctic fox, and Jack Frost himself.
Brand-new for this year will be the fantastic Festive Fantasy Candyland Castle, which stood over three-meters tall and truly was the stuff of fairytales.
“Manchester once again helped make the magic and the memories for a whole generation of families from across the city and beyond,” Cllr Karney concluded.
Emily Sergeant -
16th April 2025 
