HRH Prince Andrew en visite au Blatchford

Posté le 12th juillet 2012

Blatchford took part in Teentech, Basingstoke where 300 schoolchildren from the region were treated to a day of science and technology experiences with some of the most innovative British companies. Hosted by Maggie Philbin the event attracted a Royal visit by HRH Prince Andrew

Blatchford has been involved with TEENTECH, an organisation chaired by Maggie Philbin, of Tomorrow’s World fame, for a year now and Tuesday 12th June saw us send a team to take part in our second Teentech event which was held at the Hampshire Court Hotel in Basingstoke. Designed to encourage teenagers to take up science subjects for GCSE, the event sets out to inspire the next generation of Scientists and Technologists.

300 teenagers from 30 schools were invited to take part in a series of insights and challenges to do with science and engineering. The Blatchford team ran two zones in which the children were given group and individual activities to learn about prosthetics and disability: these included a slalom wheelchair dash, a foot assembly race and a walk on boots with echelon prosthetic feet attached.

Ben Blease, Blatchford Marketing Manager, and board member of the Basingstoke Consortium, which organised the event in conjunction with Teentech, was selected to talk to HRH Prince Andrew who was a special surprise guest. Stephen Blatchford, CEO and Ben Blease had an interesting discussion with HRH about the provision of prosthetics within the NHS in comparison with that at Headley Court. Some of the stories led to a great deal of laughter from the Prince who seemed to enjoy his visit enormously!

Teenagers were given voting buttons and a series of questions at the beginning and end of the day in which they were asked to draw a scientist and answer multiple choice questions that evaluated their perceptions about science and engineering. By the end of the day there was a huge swing from ideas that science and technology are boring, low paid jobs carried out by wild haired, lab coated men  to a much more positive idea about career options for both men and women and the value of creating some of the products and ideas that make all of our lives mor comfortable and more interesting.

Stephen Blatchford is currently one of the Industry Leads in the Made it in Great Britain project, inaugurated by Vince Cable  http://www.bis.gov.uk/news/topstories/2011/Nov/make-it-in-great-britain and Teenteech is one of the many initiatives endorsed  by Stephen to encourage a resurgence of manufacturing  in this country. Blatchford will be taking part in a number of events seeking to highlight the technological excellence and innovation to be found here in Britain.

Teentech was covered on the BBC news and reported in the papers and Blatchford staff were featured in all the media, showing what a great job the whole team did to convey the compelling nature of the Prosthetic and Orthotic industry.

Notice: En cours de traduction