A big thank you to all our volunteers, they have helped to raise a whopping £62,101.56 match funding for the project as at the end of January 2010. 

This already exceeds the amount we had hoped to raise over the whole of the project!

Well done to everyone!

THE COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT TEAM'S ACTIVITY OVER FEBRUARY HALF TERM!

The Community Engagement Team has had a busy February half term!

Here is a whistle stop run down of what we got up to....

Bombs and Barrage Balloons Exhibition

Sally kick started the week on Monday by setting up our touring exhibition in Guisborough library where it will be on display until 8^th March. ‘Bombs and Barrage Balloons’ explores the impact of the Second World War on the steel industry in Teesside. A local photographer was on hand and her star turn in the Evening Gazette can be seen here.

The exhibition launch was accompanied by a Family Bridge Building Challenge. The exhibition is touring local libraries and its next stop will be Egglescliffe Library.

For the full list of libraries and dates, please see our ‘What’s on’ page.

RSPB Saltholme Wildlife Reserve and Discovery Park

From Tuesday to Thursday all the Community Engagement team, Jenny, Rachael and Sally were at RSPB Saltholme Wildlife Reserve and Discovery Park. With the help of local textile artists “Fenella”, participants used the local environment (both natural and manmade) to paint onto pieces of fabric. We also ran sessions for four Sure Start groups from Hartlepool, Redcar, Middlesbrough and Stockton. Children came with their parents or carers to create some artwork. After the sessions, the artists worked hard to create four beautiful banners incorporating all the art work from the groups. These banners will be presented to each Sure Start group to hang in their centres. The project was supported through MLA’s Strategic Commissioning Programme, funded through the DSCF & DCMS.  Pictures from the sessions can be seen here.

Kirkleatham Museum

On Friday the team held two separate events. Rachael ran a Family Bridge Building Challenge at Kirkletham Museum. Over 100 families came along and had a great time constructing bridges out of K’nex and drawing their own designs, some of the pictures can be seen here.

Science Day 

Meanwhile Jenny and Sally took part in ‘Science Day’ at Middlesbrough Town Hall Crypt. This event was run by local Sure Start Centres and there was a broad range of exciting activities. We set up a BSAP ‘Testing Station’ and asked children to investigate the strength of everyday household materials to identify which would make the strongest bridge. We discovered some budding little engineers.

ENGINEERING NEW PARTNERSHIPS IN PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT:

BRIDGING THE PAST AND THE PRESENT THROUGH SCHOOL PROJECTS

A project by the British Steel Archive Project funded by The Royal Academy of Engineering Ingenious Scheme "engaging citizens; engaging engineers"  

First round of engineering projects now complete!

Six engineers have volunteered their time to work with four schools in Hartlepool and Redcar to engage with children through an engineering project that was inspired by the British Steel Collection. A primary and secondary school from each borough were paired together to work collaboratively on a project. Below is a brief overview of the types of activities that have taken place during the past few months.

Fens Primary School and Manor College of Technology, both located in Hartlepool, worked together to learn about bridges and structures. The culmination of the project was an event which enabled all of the children to test their skills and knowledge to build a bridge using paper and cardboard. The quality of the final bridges was exceptional, with the winning bridge being able to hold a whopping 24kgs!

Westgarth Primary and Bydales School - A Specialist Technology College, decided to focus their project on cars. Working alongside the engineers, they were able to build model cars using different materials.  Both schools came together for a competition; who could build the fastest car, from the materials provided!  Needless to say, standards were high amongst the completed cars, with a re-run needed to decide the overall winner!

Thank you to everyone involved in these projects.

VOLUNTEER CHRISTMAS PARTY 2009

As a big thank you to all our volunteers who work really hard for the project all year, we held our second Volunteer Christmas Party on 11th December in the Staff Lounge at Teesside University where a lovely buffet and a Christmas drink was enjoyed by us all.

The event had a fantastic turn out thanks to everyone who still came along despite the awful weather!

We were treated to a brilliant quiz organised by our very own Rachael, which to the relief of everyone was much easier than last year and not based on steel facts! 

Thank you to everyone who donated a raffle prize, we had a fantastic selection of prizes to choose from and most people went home with a nice treat or two!  We also raised £32 from the raffle which will help fund the project, so again thank you!

The whole team wishes you a very Happy Christmas and New Year!  We look forward to seeing you all back volunteering in 2010!