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This seasons newsletter is jam-packed full of exciting event write-ups and news stories from our area. Including; West Cumbria Young Members, the Presidential Visit and not forgetting, one of the best Annual Dinners that we have ever had!
Citation preview
Newsletter
Improving the world through engineering
North Western Region
West Cumbria Area
www.imechewestcumbria.org.uk
SUPERSONIC FINALE TO YET
ANOTHER RECORD BREAKING SEASON
l
Following the great success of yet another
ground breaking IMechE West Cumbria Annual
Dinner, I would like to personally our generous
sponsors for their tremendous support. With their
help the dinner most definitely took our dinner to
another level – an all day event including:
During the day, two coincidental schools events
took place, one involving some 200 Primary
Students and the Bloodhound SSC Education Team
and another, a Girls in Engineering event for 75
female secondary students, mentored by female
young engineers also involving the IMechE President
-elect Isobel Pollock, who will be only the second
female President of the IMechE in its history. Then at
the dinner itself, not only were we graced with some
fantastic food and after dinner entertainment,
including a key note speech from Isobel on the
healthy state of our Institution, but we were
enthralled by Richard Noble OBE who gave a most
inspirational address about his fascinating
Bloodhound SSC project – an engineering
adventure.
Read more on the dinner in our centre page
feature article inside.
As well has enabling to continue to expand our
prestigious Annual Dinner, the sponsorship we have
secured has enabled us to allocate the necessary
funds to continue and develop our engineering
educational initiatives throughout the coming year,
which is as always one of our key objectives.
We continue to build and strengthen our schools
contacts across the area, with 10 Secondary Schools
representatives attending the dinner to help build
more company-school networking opportunities.
With the generosity of those who attended the
dinner, we were also able to raise over £2,000 for
our three local charities: Great North Air Ambulance,
Cockermouth Mountain Rescue and Macmillan
Cancer. Our largest donations yet.
The whole day was simply unforgettable, in fact
our incumbent President Prof Rod Smith, at his
second IMechE West Cumbria Dinner, described the
event as “Undoubtedly, the best Institution Dinner
outside of London ....”
And it didn‟t stop there. The following day, a
Presidential visit took place for the Annual Dinner
guests of honour to the Thorp Plants at Sellafield.
Read more about the dinner, the Presidential Visit
and all the other activities we been up to inside this
jam-packed newsletter!
I look forward to see you soon.
Tom Pritt CEng FIMechE BEng (Hons) Chairman – IMechE (West Cumbria)Thomas.Pritt@babcocks.co.uk
NEWSLETTER AUTUMN/WINTER 2011 1
I M E C H E W E S T C U M B R I A E D I T I O N A U T U M N / W I N T E R 2 0 1 1
EVENTS
A look back at the talks and visits
which were held in West Cumbria
during 2011.
ANNUAL DINNER Highlights from this year‟s Annual
Dinner and Engineering Schools
events at Energus.
YOUNG MEMBERS A look at what the Young Members
of IMechE West Cumbria have been
up to this year.
P2-P3
P4-P5
P6
EDUCATION Review of IMechE West Cumbria
Schools and Further Education
activities for 2011.
P7
NEXT SEASON Take a look at what‟s in store from
IMechE West Cumbria this Autumn
and Winter.
P8
I S S U E 3 / S e p t e m b e r 2 0 1 1
EVENTS Write-up from our Spring/Summer 2011 Events Calendar
RECYCLING TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGES IN CUMBRIA
kerbside collections, i.e. paper, plastics,
garden waste etc, and home composting etc..
Each one of these initiatives encouraged the
public to consider what they were throwing
away and how to make better use of it.
Future Developments was a subject Martin
was particularly enthused about, he explained
there were 2 major options:
Energy from Waste (EfW) this involves
incinerating the waste to heat water to steam
then drive turbines to create
electricity, the emissions are “scrubbed” so no
harmful gases were released into the
atmosphere.
Mechanical-Biological Treatment (MBT) the
dry and screen waste to produce a refuse
derived fuel which could be sold as fuel to
power generating company, PLUS a
compostable element for gardens or
agriculture.
Martin did warn however, every increase in
infrastructure requires investment and planning
permission and therefore is not without its
sensitivities, as a nation of NIMBY‟s (Not In My
2 NEWSLETTER AUTUMN/WINTER 2011
DEVELOPING AN ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT
On Wednesday 19th January, over 30
people attended a talk on Waste Management
and Recycling at the appropriate venue of the
Eco Centre at Cockermouth School. The
speaker was Martin Allman, Waste Prevention
Manager for Cumbria County Council, who
gave a fascinating insight on how our
household rubbish is currently disposed of
plans for the future.
Martin explained how a series of local
initiatives were put into place to promote the
philosophy of recycling. These included,
Household waste recycling centers HWRC‟s),
Over 25 attendees were given an insight
into the steps required to produce the EIA for
the redevelopment of the site of the Bunsfield
Oil Depot explosion, including the depths
required to demonstrate that the lessons
learned from the disaster back in the early
hours of Sunday 11th December 2005.
Using the HSE investigation into the
accident as the reference, Kelvin explained
what happened to cause the explosion and
outline some of the root causes identified by
the HSE‟s investigation. Kelvin then went on to
explain how the EIA for the re-use of the site
will address those root causes to prevent this
type of incident ever happening again at the
site.
The excellently delivered talk by Kelvin
stimulated some interesting discussions and
debates in the Q&A part of the evening, and
everyone clearly went away with a much
greater understanding of what an EIA is and
how vitally important it is to get it right to help
the planning approval process to run smoothly.
David Williamson, Hons Sec, IMechE WC
On Wednesday 16th March, the
Samuel Lindow Foundation was the venue for
a fascinating talk by Kelvin Hughes of
ARCADIS UK, about the production of
Environmental Impact Assessments.
On Friday 24th June, the day after the 7th
IMechE West Cumbria Annual Dinner, a
Presidential Visit took place to the Sellafield
site. The Guests of honour from the dinner
Prof Rod Smith, Isobel Pollock and Richard
Noble OBE, were accompanied on this
fascinating, informative tour of the Thorp
Receipt and Storage, and Head End Plants
by IMechE NW Region Chairman David Ball,
IMechE West Cumbria Chairman Tom Pritt
and IMechE NW Region Business Manager
David Barrett.
The Tour Provided the visiting party a
fascinating insight into the state of the art
engineering solutions adopted in this cutting
edge nuclear reprocessing facility, as well as
providing an understanding of the safety
systems deployed in strength to ensure plant
operations remain safe at all times.
Following lunch, Prof Rod Smith was able
to fulfil a personal dream of his - to ride on the
foot plate of the “La‟al Ratty”. Rod, who has
Back Yard) are created. Martin emphasised our
roles as individuals when it comes to the war
against waste, and cited the The 3Rs – reduce,
reuse and recycle.
Smarter Shopping – refusing over
packaged goods, refusing plastic carrier bags,
lobbying retailers.
Shift to Thrift – rediscovering the practices
of our parents i.e. reusing, hire, share and
repair.
Glocalism – buy local, farmers markets,
commuting less, Grow Your Own, Home
Composting, use local recycling facilities, Buy
Recycled!
In short, we all have a part to play when it
comes to Waste Management. This was
evident with the quantity and quality of
questions asked at the end of the presentation
and to end, what was a very informative and
well received talk Martin gave a summary of
the 2008 Audit commission report “a Four Star
(significantly improved) service.
Paul Johnson, IMechE West Cumbria
achieved much in his career in the Railway
industry World Wide refused to let the
inclement West Cumbrian Weather deter him
and spent an hour soaking up the experience
and said afterwards that it was a real highlight
of what had been a most enjoyable visit to
West Cumbria!
PRESIDENTIAL VISIT TAKES IN THE PAST AND THE PRESENT
For all the latest news, features and
upcoming events visit our
areas website:
www.imechewestcumbria.org.uk
You can also sign up to receive our regular email updates. Simply forward your email to: WCumbSec@imechenetwork.org
1 IN 1000 YEAR FLOOD - THE LESSONS LEARNED
NEWSLETTER AUTUMN/WINTER 2011 3
The talk went onto describe the process of
beginning to consider where and how to do
something about flooding, based on
fundamental risk analysis. The presentation
showed that the aim of any engineering works
is to reduce the probability to 'once in 50
years', but Mike made the point that it is
impossible to fully engineer against all weather
conditions generated in the rivers and seas,
and that no two floods are ever identical.
The absolutely catastrophic floods in
Carlisle on January 2005 and more recently in
Cockermouth November 2009 were discussed
in detail. Perhaps the most telling image on the
night was that of a map drawn in 1811, clearly
showing the Sands and the river systems
around as flood plains, now of course fully built
over, and always liable to flood.
The scale of the Carlisle and Cockermouth
events has necessitated huge expenditure to
reduce the risk of repetition. Major earthworks,
telemetry, sluice and flood gates are in the
process of installation at major sites plus many
others across Carlisle and Cockermouth area
to ensure that any future build-up of dangerous
waters can be predicted and managed.
This work is on schedule for completion in
Carlisle where in the Cockermouth area this
work is still ongoing including dredging of the
river in critical locations and build up of river
retaining walls and flood break out plains to
absorb some of the volume of waters when
floods occur.
The evening concluded with a look round
the Incident Room where monitoring telemetry
is received completed.
Adrian Norendal, IMechE West Cumbria
A unique visit and talk took place at the
Environmental Agency HQ at Penrith on 19th
May, where attendees were treated to a
fascinating insight into flood risk management
and the engineering considerations arising was
provided by the Environment Agencies Asset
Management Team Leader, Craig
Cowperthwaite at a recent IMechE West
Cumbria event.
The presentation was delivered at the EA's
impressive headquarters in Penrith to an
excellent turnout, and included some startling
photos and to remind everyone of just how
devastating flood impact can be, particularly on
domestic dwellings.
A very unique insight into how water
comes from Ennerdale to our taps took place
on 28th April, when a highly informative visit to
United Utilities water treatment plant at
Ennerdale! Ennerdale Water provides up to 68
million litres of water per day to a population
of approximately 80,000 in Whitehaven and
villages in the surrounding area of Copeland.
The tour of the plant was preceded by a
fascinating talk about the construction of the
works. Construction of tunnels, 800 metres
long was undertaken using boring machinery
to avoid damaging the natural vegetation. The
new works became operational in April 1994,
a modern and fully automated treatment
works replacing an older site near to the lake
shore.
The visit around the plant elaborated on
the treatment process utilised at Ennerdale,
including; First stage: Microstrainer Process:
Raw water is strained through three
conventional, rotating drum microstrainers,
ENNERDALE WATER which remove all solids greater than 30
microns, and Second Stage: Microfiltration
Process: The membrane plant filters water to
sub-micron level and provides a barrier to
cryptosporidium.
As there is neither a watercourse, suitable
for discharge of “un-natural” wastes, nor a
sewer local to the site, all wastes produced on
the site have to be removed from site by a
road tanker. The membrane plant produces
large amounts of dilute effluent. A waste
treatment plant is provided to recover as much
water from the effluent as possible, by
chemical coagulation and gravity
thickening, for recycling to the membrane
plant.
Residual sludge is stored on site until it
can removed by tanker. Chemical wastes on
site are collected in the chemical waste tank
located in the courtyard.
Ian Lupton, IMechE West Cumbria
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A Girls in Engineering event, exclusively
for secondary school girls, was held on the
same day as the annual dinner for over 75 girls
and their teachers from West Cumbria schools
to draw on their creative talents and apply their
scientific skills at a workshop held at Energus,
Lillyhall. The event, organised by Claire Jones
and Jen Corbett, gave 15-16 year old girls the
chance to discover more about what
engineering is really like, and how they can
apply what they learn to the real world.
Claire Jones, event co-organiser said: “We
women professional engineers about their
engineering roles and how they got there.
We would like to thank those who attended
and helped out, as well as Nuclear
Management Partners for sponsoring the event,
West Cumbria IMechE Young Members for their
help and support and local companies and
charities; The React Foundation, STEMNET,
Sellafield Ltd, and Jacobs.
Claire Jones, YM Chair, IMechE West Cumbria
really wanted to get the girls thinking about
what they enjoy at school and how applying
this to engineering can be genuinely fun and
interesting”.
The day focused on workshops and
activities run by female engineers from Jacobs,
NNL and Sellafield. These had been set up to
expose the girls to learning in a group
environment, allowing them a hands on
practical engineering experience that they
might not normally get at school.
IMechE Deputy President Professor Isobel
Pollock, who helped run the afternoon
workshops, said “It is important for the students
of today to understand what goes into the
engineering of tomorrow. Today has opened
their eyes into the exciting career opportunities
available to them”
The event also gave the girls an
opportunity to ask questions about engineering
specific course, but also a chance to quiz
ANNUAL DINNER 2011 Key Note Lectures and Visits held during 2010
4 NEWSLETTER AUTUMN/WINTER 2011
“THE BEST INSTITUTION DINNER
arrival before entering the impressive Energus
facility.
West Cumbria Area Chairman Tom Pritt
launched proceedings and explained how this
event had grown on the back of securing
Richard, the Bloodhound Education Team and
the full-size model. The sponsors were warmly
thanked, as their support had not only made
this event possible, but was also being used to
fund a series of educational engineering
projects throughout the year.
Claire Jones, outgoing West Cumbria YM
Chair and newly elected Chair of the
international YM Board, implored all attending
to support the development and the inspiration
of young engineers in their companies and
schools.
Before an excellent meal, IMechE
The ovation said it all. Richard Noble OBE
had just completed a mesmerising explanation
of the engineering adventure that is
Bloodhound SSC, his latest venture to shatter
the world land speed record, winning a strong,
heartfelt response from the privileged
attendees to IMechE West Cumbria‟s 7th
Annual Dinner, held recently at Energus,
Lillyhall.
From his earliest recollection of John
Cobb‟s Crusader that set a 5 year old Noble on
a lifelong quest for ultimate speed, Richard
fully confirmed his web site description:
„challenger, entrepreneur, record breaker and
motivational speaker‟, brilliantly explaining not
only the engineering challenges to be
overcome in designing and building a car to go
faster than 1,000 mph, but also how the use of
this iconic project is already inspiring a whole
new generation of children, from primary key
stage 1 upwards. This tied in excellently with
the presence at the Dinner of several head
teachers and staff members from schools
across the area.
This was one of the highlights of a
memorable evening, organised with the
exceptional help and support of the team at
Energus, and supported by over 200
professional engineers from across West
Cumbria.
Attendees were able to view the
stunning full-scale Bloodhound SSC model on
GIRLS IN ENGINEERING
NEWSLETTER AUTUMN/WINTER 2011 5
After the meal, the audience were invited
into the lecture theatre to see Richard‟s
presentation, which included photo-realistic
„breaking news video‟ type coverage of how
they hope Bloodhound will succeed in breaking
the 1,000 mph barrier. So realistic, in fact, that
Fox News from the US contacted Richard to
find out when the record had been broken…
Isobel Pollock gave a very positive report
on the current state of IMechE, reporting better
finances and increasing membership, and
complimenting West Cumbria on it‟s
enthusiasm and activity levels, before George
Beveridge, Deputy MD of Sellafield Ltd,
presented certificates to the two outstanding
mechanical engineering students of the year
from Lakes College, Chris Lister (HNC) and
Lee Mitchell (NC).
The evening was rounded off by a fine
While the girls were enjoying programming
Logo Mindstorm Robots and building Hydrogen
Fuel Cell model cars as part of the Girls In
Engineering event, over 150 year 6 students
for six local West Cumbrian Primary Schools
were having their own fun courtesy of the
BLOODHOUND Educational Team, again at
the impressive Energus facilities at Lillyhall,
Workington.
The students were able to learning about
the astonishing facts associated with the
BLOODHOUND SSC Project; length – 13.4m,
height – 2.8m, wheel diameter – 0.9m, turning
circle 240m, mass 6.422Te, top speed 1050
mph (mach 1.4), 0 – 1000mph in 42 secs; as
well as being able to build their own model
rocket cars and trying their hand on the
career in engineering, and going by the
reception that was received on the day, the
team is making great in-roads in delivering that
mission.
All in all, to have two coincidental schools
events and a top-draw annual dinner under the
same roof on the same day is testament to
IMechE West Cumbria‟s aim to deliver
outstanding value for money for the
membership in the area, as well as the
meticulous organisational skills of the GENII
team at Energus. How on earth do we better
this next year…….
- Answers on a post card to our exhausted
Chairman Tom Pritt please!
David Williamson, Hons Sec, IMechE WC
BLOODHOUND SSC Simulator.
The BLOODHOUND SSC engineering
adventure provides a once in a lifetime
opportunity to inspire the next generation of
scientists and engineers. To achieve this
ambitious goal, the BLOODHOUND Education
Programme is being made available to all
pupils in primary and secondary schools, and
to students in further and higher education.
Nearly 4,000 schools have registered in the
first 18 months of the project, plus numerous
presentations have been given to other groups
and professional institutions, taking the project
into the heart of the community and society.
The BLOODHOUND SSC project is unique
when compared to other ground breaking
engineering ventures in that all the information
about the research, design, build and testing of
the car is available to teachers and students,
and of course to anyone that wishes to visit the
website.
The BLOODHOUND SSC Mission
Statement is to confront the impossible and
overcome it using Science Engineering
Technology and Mathematics. The project‟s
mainstay is to enthuse young students to study
STEM subjects and consider an inspirational
comedy turn before the results of the Charity
raffle were announced, with over £2,000 raised
for local charities: Cockermouth Mountain
Rescue, Great North Air Ambulance and
Macmillan Cancer Support.
Outside, there was still light in the sky on
this wonderful mid-summer‟s evening. Inside,
Richard Noble was signing and selling
Bloodhound posters until well after midnight. It
had been the most splendid of evenings.
Once again this year, IMechE West
Cumbria were delighted to use the occasion of
the Annual Dinner to facilitate the presentation
of Lakes College West Cumbria Mechanical
Engineering Student Awards. On the night
George Beverage, Deputy MD of Sellafield Ltd
presented the Best HNC Award to Daniel
Williams and Best HND Award to Liam Irvine.
OUTSIDE OF LONDON...”
BLOODHOUND PRIMARY SCHOOL CHALLENGE
President, Professor Rod Smith gave an
amusing perspective on his engineering
background, with special reference to his
favourite subject – railways.
6 NEWSLETTER AUTUMN/WINTER 2011
WEST CUMBRIA YOUNG MEMBERS Our growing and dynamic team of young engineers
YOUNG MEMBER SUCCESS
ambassador for; Formula Student Judge,
Our World in 2050, Network Career events,
Routes to Professional Development
seminar, Ambassador Conference. She
also initiated a Financial Management CPD
course for Sellafield graduates. Jen has
recently become the North Western Region
Representative on the Young Members
Board.
At the award ceremony in London,
Claire was presented with her award from
John Wood (the then President of IMechE)
and Ross Brawn (Mercedes GP
Petronas). She also received a free place
on the IMechE Engineering Management
Skills Course and a personal invitation to
visit Ross Brawn’s F1 facility.
Two of IMechE West Cumbria’s Young
Members Panel female engineers, Claire
Jones and Jen Corbett were recently
awarded with international recognition for
their outstanding contribution to the
Institution of Mechanical Engineers.
The Young Member of the Year Awards
2010 consist of five categories; Key
themes, Member engagement, Education,
Raising the profile of IMechE, Raising the
Profile of the Profession and one overall
winner. Jen won the contribution to Key
Themes category while Claire attained the
overall winner “Young Member of the Year
2010” Award
Claire, who works for Babcock and at
Sellafield, is the Outgoing-Chair of the West
Cumbria Young Members Panel, member of
the West Cumbria Panel and STEM
Ambassador. The award was given in
recognition of the extensive range of
volunteering activities she undertakes to
promote engineering.
Jen works for Sellafield Ltd and is the
Outgoing-Secretary of the West Cumbria
Young Members Panel, STEM and IMechE
Gold Ambassador. Jen has been
recognised for her contribution to the key
themes of Education, Environment, Energy
and Transport. She has achieve this as an
which awards the Foundations own £3229
Bursary to cover the first year degree tuition
fee charges, which this year was awarded to
Richard Beck, from
St Benedict‟s 6th Form who
is going to Oxford to study a
Masters Degree in
Mechanical Engineering.
As well as in
conjunction with the IMechE
West Cumbria Area
Education Sub-Committee, selecting the
IMechE West Cumbria Bursary Award Winner,
who we are delighted to announce as being
Alexander Johnston (back
row, 4th from left), from
Nelson Tomlinson School,
who has been offered a
place at Imperial College,
London to study a Masters
Degree in Mechanical
Engineering.
In 2011, we are delighted to have joined
forces with the REACT Foundation to provide
a £1000 University Bursary Award to a top
West Cumbrian student who is successful in
taking up a place on a Masters Degree
Course in a Mechanical Engineering subject
area.
David Williamson, IMechE West Cumbria
Area Educational Initiatives Co-ordinator was
invited to be an honorary member of the
REACT Foundation Bursary selection panel,
On Saturday 30th October five members of the
West Cumbria Young Members panel travelled
to Colne to take part in the North West YM
panel annual go karting championship. The
competition took the form of an endurance
race with six stints per team of twenty minutes
each, with the winning team being that with the
most laps at the end. The event proved to be a
good way to meet the North West Committee
and catch up with old friends. The race proved
to be a close one with only four laps between
us and the team above at the end of the race.
The final result saw West Cumbria finish in fifth
place (out of seven) with no major crashes.
KARTING TEAM CHALLENGE
NEWS IN BRIEF
Thursday 30th September last year saw
Moonbuggy Ltd in Maryport open its doors to
the West Cumbria Young Members.
Moonbuggy Ltd is a manufacturer of versatile,
compact and multipurpose unmanned ground
vehicles (UGV). These amazing vehicles are
custom designed for specific applications such
as casualty recovery and radiation survey.
The vehicles can be supplemented with
various features such as cameras and robotic
arms. Two vehicles were shown during the
tour, one used for casualty recovery and the
second for carrying heavy loads. The first
could be controlled up to two miles away using
a dedicated wireless system and incorporated
the use of cameras to see where the vehicle
was going. The second was controlled at a
shorter range, by infrared.
VISIT TO MOONBUGGY LTD
Situated at the top of the Honister Pass
within the Borrowdale Valley, Honister Slate
Mine is lucky to be operating at all. West
Cumbria Young Members will always
remember this tour of the mine, as it one of the
last before the untimely death of the mines
enigmatic owner Mike Weir.
Mark Weir welcomed the party with a
recollection of the staggering highs and
emotional lows he had encountered during his
journey to bring the mine back to life, where it
now sits proud as one of the best attractions
HONISTER SLATE MINE TOUR
UNIVERSITY BURSARY AWARD
THE INSTITUTION YOUNG MEMBER AWARDS 2010
and enterprises in the Lake District. The mine
attracts thousands of visitors each year and
provides a unique location for the TV and film
industries - a fitting epitaph to such a
remarkable man.
The young members were enrolled on the
„Cathedral‟ tour (one of three that Honister
provide) giving a bespoke tour of the working
mine, where the humorous, emotional and
often saddening story of the past 12 years in
the mines history was told to the party by
Rowland, the parties guide for the evening.
Once inside, the group was shown around
various operating areas, drilling faces, tunnels
and transport routes, while tour guide Rowland
added to the adventure with stories of how it all
began, how the mine now operates and what
the future holds for Honister. The group was
truly mesmerized by sheer scale of the
caverns.
Leaving the relatively sheltered and
enclosed tunnel, gusts of 75mph met the
young members who cautiously made their
way back to their mine visitor centre, where
this fascinating tour was drawn to a close.
Students were given introductory
presentations by IMechE West Cumbria‟s
David Williamson on what the day was going to
be about, Environmentally Sustainable
Engineering Solutions being planned for the
Derwent Forest Development by Nigel
Catterson from DFDC, and Climate Change
presentations by Dean Atherton, Allerdale
Borough Council‟s Climate Change
Coordinator (at Stainburn), and Rachel Osborn,
Copeland Borough Council‟s Sustainability
Officer (at St Benedict‟s). Over twenty
engineers and engineering students from local
companies, Sellafield Limited, GENII, Atkins,
AMEC and Babcocks provided classroom
mentoring to the teams leading to the
classroom winners competing for the overall
winner‟s prize by presenting their concepts to
the whole school year and a panel of judges.
Each school‟s winning team received the
„2050‟ School Trophy and free entry passes to
Camelot Theme Park, courtesy of STORY
Group, Carlisle.
become the UK‟s next generation of
professional engineers. To this end, in common
with other engineering Institutions, we
organise, deliver and contribute to outreach
activities that use practical technical based
approaches to engender an interest in
engineering (such as building mechanical de-
vices, racing cars, robots etc.).
However, it has been observed that this
traditional approach can often alienate pupils
who are not Intrinsically motivated by such
activities yet might have the potential to
become excellent engineers in the future. In
response to this the „Our World in 2050‟
initiative was devised using a different
approach which focuses on the conceptual
stage of the engineering design process. The
idea (which worked with great success in the
pilot) is to tap into the environmental concerns
and creativity of young people. This engages a
more diverse range of pupils in thinking about
engineering as a career, dispels common
myths and stereotypes surrounding the term
„engineer‟, and thereby has the
potential to attract wider participation in STEM
subjects.
Thanks to the generosity of our
sponsors, we have been able to stage
two highly successful, prestigious IMechE
„Our World in 2050‟ schools events in
West Cumbria this year. On 25th March,
the second annual „2050‟ IMechE
Environmental schools event took place
at Stainburn School and Science College,
Workington, and the inaugural
St Benedict‟s Catholic High School and
Engineering College „2050‟ was held on
15th July. In total, 400 year 8 (12 – 13
year old) students, were given the
opportunity to show that their creativity and
innovation in a whole school year challenge to
come up with the best design concept for an
aspect of our life which will need to change to
adapt to the causes and effects of climate
change by the year 2050.
„Our World in 2050‟ is a one day
off-timetable cross-curricula STEM enrichment
activity focused on the topics of adaptation to
climate change and sustainability. This
innovative initiative is aimed at Year 8 (12-13
year olds) and has
been designed to meet
the new KS3 of the
National Curriculum
from 2008. It aims to
engage a more diverse
range of pupils in
thinking about
engineering careers at
a relatively early age in
their educational
development and thereby attract wider
participation in STEM subjects.
One of the key roles of the IMechE is to
engage with young people and inspire them to
NEWSLETTER AUTUMN/WINTER 2011 7
OUR WORLD IN 2050
EDUCATION Promoting engineering as an exciting and rewarding career
ENGINEERING FUN DAY AT LAKES On 13th May IMechE West Cumbria held
another successful Engineering Fun Day at
Lakes College West Cumbria, in conjunction
with Cumbria STEM Centre.
Engineering Fun Days allows 10 – 11 year
old Primary School pupils to get involved in
fun, hands-on engineering activities such as
building simple battery powered cars,
hovercrafts, aeroplanes, etc to help re-enforce
basic engineering principles and hopefully
enthuse some of the pupils to continue to
have an interest in STEM subjects though
their school life and into their working careers.
Over 200 pupils took on the day from
eight local primary schools and feedback
continues to tell us that this event is very
much appreciated by both staff and pupils, as
a means of expanding the basics that are
taught via the curriculum in school.
The event was supported by eighteen
local science and engineering ambassadors
from many local companies such as; Sellafield
Ltd, Babcock, Atkins and Gen II. Each school
took away a Meccano Technology Kit as a gift
from IMechE West Cumbria to help reinforce
the learning back in the classroom.
Stainburn’s Winning Team
St Benedict’s Winning Team
8 NEWSLETTER SPRING/SUMMER 2011
EVENTS POSTER AUTUMN/WINTER 2011 A look at what’s coming up next season...
Our Events
Remember, you don‟t need to be a member of the Institution to take advantage of our events. Anyone of all ages can come along!
For more information on this seasons events visit our website: www.imechewestcumbria.org.uk/events
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