Engineering skills on show for pupils
Celebration of engineering now in its sixth year as big names turn out to support industry
Pupils and students were given a glimpse of extra career possibilities at Scarborough Engineering Week at the Spa.
More than 3,000 children were encouraged to become the engineers of the future at Scarborough’s annual celebration of business and idustry.
Scarborough Engineering Week highlighted the wide range of rewarding and lucrative roles that are being created in the UK’s engineering sector.
The event, which ran from Tuesday to Thursday last week at The Spa in Scarborough, showed young people how science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) are so important in the real world.
Supporters include science and technology promoter Maggie Philbin, the former presenter of TV show Tomorrow’s World, who was the keynote speaker at a dinner to celebrate the festival’s success.
Scarborough recently secured permission to create a new University Technology College on the Weaponness Coach Park site, which will help youngsters learn more about advanced engineering, cyber technology and robotics. Peter Wilkinson, a nonexecutive director of Unison, the tube bending machine manufacturer, who has been one of the driving forces behind engineering week, said the borough had a lot of high quality firms to ensure it has a sustainable future.
The event was organised by Scarborough Business Ambassadors, NYBEP Ltd, York, North Yorkshire and East Riding Local Enterprise Partnership, North Yorkshire County Council, The Spa and Scarborough Council.
There was also a competition, backed by The Scarborough News, for children to design their own working robot. More than 200 children, aged from 7-19, entered. The winners were Joseph and Rowan Newill from Newby Primary School with their crab design Jitterbug. Their enthusiasm for engineering shone through when their robots were presented to judges David Loxley and Harry Barnes and Emily Miller. Runnerup was Alicia Griffiths from Cayton School. Alicia completed all three robot kits to a very high standard. Both were awarded trophies with the winners receiving a voucher for Tricolos.