Wed, 23 October, 2019
The Northumbria and Teesside Branches of The Welding Institute was in attendance at the ‘Bring It On North East 2019’ event on the 9-10 October at The Beacon of Light in Sunderland.
The annual event sees national and regional organisations collaborate to help inspire young people into STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) subjects with the aim of reducing the skills gap in UK engineering.
Over 80 exhibitors and 2,000 children took part in the two-day event with both primary and secondary school pupils able to explore six zones that showed a diverse range of opportunities that are available to budding engineers. The school children were able to take part in various interactive games and try out different technologies, including operating a digger and practicing life-saving CPR.
The exhibitors included Emerson, Lear Corporation, Northumbrian Water, Nissan, Sir Robert McAlpine, Venator, Siemens, Simpson Group, and Constain as children aged 9-14 were invited to learn about different equipment as they interacted with the stands and professionals from the subsea, oil and gas, automotive, digital, chemical and creative industries.
The Bring It On event also welcomed international VIP guests including Dr Andrew Aldrin, President of the Aldrin Family Foundation and Jim Christensen, Executive Director of ShareSpace Education.
Ahead of the exhibition, children aged 9-17 were invited to enter the Big Bang Competition, showcasing any STEM project they had recently completed. The entries were judged by a range of employers, universities and journalists with the chance to win £20,000 worth of prizes and be crowned as UK Young Engineer or GSK UK Young Scientist of the Year.
The event was well received with many teachers expressing their gratitude to the supporters and event staff, as well as noting the children’s excitement and enthusiasm for the activities on offer.
The event was supported by Make it Sunderland, RTC North, IMechE, Community Foundation, the Reece Foundation and Cleveland Scientific Institution.
Jamie Ollivere, Managing Director at RTC North, noted how pleased he was to see so many familiar faces returning to the event, saying, “It’s always great to see previous industry exhibitors returning to ‘Bring it On’ because it reinforces how important the STEM agenda is to their future.”
He continued, “I know from conversations I’ve had with those attending that these events do matter, and career choices are influenced,” adding, “The event was a huge success and thanks to all the supporters, sponsors, staff and volunteers, it was clear that the children were having a fantastic time.”
Colin Galbraith, the President of the Northumbria Branch of The Welding Institute said, "TWI Branch volunteers, with support from local companies Caterpillar, Jacobs Global, Keith's Welding and TWI Technology Centre North East, are delighted to have been involved with this STEM event. We are convinced that inspiring the excellent students who attended will encourage them to consider choosing a STEM career in the future. The demonstration of Welding with Chocolate was, as always, a very popular and excellent attraction."
