This year was the fourth time that the Wales Rally GB has been held in North Wales. The Welsh Government, working with Flintshire, Conwy Councils and the Engineering Education Scheme for Wales (EESW) set up a STEM event in a marquee at the rally service park at the Toyota site in Deeside. As in previous years we manned an interactive stand at the event together with several companies, local colleges and other professional bodies.
Unlike previous years the event this year was held during school half term which created some concern that this would limit the students attending as it might not allow schools organised visits. The event was publicised as a family day allowing parents to bring young people to the event whilst visiting the Rally park.
| The North Wales Area committee arranged the IMechE stand this year with members volunteering for the two days, Oct 27 and 28. Visitors were able to view the Rally service stations, automotive stands, as well as coming into the marquee to learn about engineering and further education opportunities. Exhibitors were encouraged to provide activities for the visitors during their visit. At the IMechE stand we had the Stirling heat engine running on a cup of hot water as well as the LEGO Mindstorm Rubic cube solver which proved to be very popular. Also on Oct 27th Rafal Kwiatkowski one of our young members set up a 3D printer which operated all day producing various plastic models. The first day proved to be the busiest with a large number of young people and parents coming along for advice. This was probably because it was the first day of the event and was before the cars had started the rallying competition. On the second day the rally cars had all left at 05:30am and the enthusiasts would have joined the rallying at the various stages across the region. We were glad to report that our concern regarding numbers was misplaced. In fact, we had more people on the first day than on both days in 2015. General comments were that it was refreshing to talk to parents who clearly were far more interested than teachers in the opportunities available to their children. Generally, school trips tended to descend in waves with very little time for the groups to have a meaningful discussion with the team. Teachers tend to be in ‘crowd control mode’ at these types of events! Also many of the youngsters were of a slightly younger age group than organised school trips focusing on youngsters already involved in STEM subjects. These young people were still at a stage where their career path could be influenced. This year the first day had about 1800 people visit, comprising roughly 100 adults and 800 youngsters. The second day was probably about half this number but still significantly higher than previous years. There were one or two school trips arranged by some enthusiastic teachers who took time off during the half term. However, the vast majority were parents and children. The 5 x IMechE volunteers that took part found this to be a rewarding experience once again and we thank them for their hard work. Gareth Cemlyn Jones 30th October 2016 |