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ARCHIVE
CHANGE OF HOST FOR RUDE MECHANICALS
At
the end of April we moved the site to new hosts, 34SP.com. This move is
designed to save us money! 34SP.com charges a VERY competitive price for
web hosting and was recommended to us.
The move went very smoothly, but. . . our pdf worksheets for the trebuchet
got lost in the post! If you were looking for them last week and couldn't
find them, then 'Sorry'. (they are back in place now)
Our old site is living in retirement in a folder that's not a million miles for your present position. Some of you pay surreptitious visits (yes - we know all about it) probably via search engines and perhaps old bookmarks. We think they're still available - if anything is missing - or not working - then please report to us through the 'contact us' page. Thanks!
ILLUSTRATIONS
CRANE
No.1000 at the Edinburgh Science Festival'
Len's interview'
Down
on the farm!
Simple
loom from 'The Designer's Manual'
The
72" Birr Telescope
Pump House,
Mining Museum
Barber's Shop, Derry
Len, Techfest
2003
Kirkhope
PS, Ettrickbridge
Puffer
Pibroch 1
Puffer
Pibroch 2
RUDE MECHANICALS - DOWN ON THE FARM!
Immediately before heading for Edinburgh we were working in Northumberland, at Darras Hall First School
No,
these aren't the new pupils. . . but a brand new family of lambs on
Linda's farm, where we very comfortably 'billeted' for our night in
Northumberland. Thanks Linda, thanks Norman
- we hope the rest
of the lambing goes well!
EDINBURGH
INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE FESTIVAL
2003
It's now Friday 18 April and we finished our spell
at the Edinburgh International Science Festival yesterday afternoon. The
whole week was characterized by large attendances, with the result that
our 1000th crane was completed on Wednesday afternoon (with another 300
added before yesterday's close!).
We had produced work cards for a more 'elaborate' crane but with the average age of the children visiting our workshop probably in the region of six years we switched to a much simpler version. Just a few older children completed the original design but everyone seemed very satisfied with their accomplishments! (The simple version is May's 'Project of the Month' -look below!)
Below
is a picture of Len being interviewed by Polish Radio.
This has happened every year that we've been at the Festival - last year
the interview was broadcast LIVE!
We wonder what Polish listeners make of all this - If there is a Polish
visitor to this site who has listened to Len on Polish radio we love to
hear from you.
We have been working with Hutcheson'sGrammar School's Primary Dept. for a couple of years. We are most of the way through a programme that involves working with every primary pupil (that's about 1000!) - Just the Infants remain, and we'll be seeing them in June 2003.
During our last visit a short video was made and this appears on the Hutchie's website.
BOOK
SALES CONTINUE TO GROW
Our book, 'the Primary School Designer's Manual'* continues to sell well,
and not just in Scotland. There's more info about the book on the Products
Page - you can get a copy directly from us or from the Technology catalogue
of TTS-Group Ltd.
We have added an extra page showing a list of
the projects contained in the book, together with a couple of sample pages.
(PDF) One of the pages shows a simple mangonel or onager
to satisfy our 'siege-engine' friends!
*Now supplied to all
primary schools in 5 Scottish council areas! (Edinburgh,
Scottish Borders, Midlothian, Dundee, Moray)
You can now pay for our book with PAYPAL
- see 'products' page
HOW
ABOUT THIS FOR A VENUE?
The
picture opposite shows the Power Hall at the Scottish National Mining
Museum at Newton Grange in Midlothian. Midlothian Council have based
our In-service courses there recently. You should be able to make out
A beam engine at the back of the room. This is certainly the best venue
for technology workshops that we have ever been invited to use.
(and a door on the right leads straight into the coffee shop!)
We are so booked up between now and next summer that some of the products we make may not be available until next May! (We make them all ourselves)
Sorry about this - if you're very keen to buy something then please contact us.
We have been very
busy since Easter. . .
. . . but
the end of the school year is now in sight. Our regular workshop days
in schools have been interspersed with several events of a more unusual
nature.
The first was a day at Banchory Academy, up in Deeside. They were running a technology day for the P7 pupils who would be starting at the Academy after the summer. The day seemed to go well, though it was somewhat disconcerting to find ourselves working in a blacked out drama studio with groups of fifty. When I say 'blacked-out' I mean that the room was windowless and lined with black drapes. The 'interesting' part was that, because of some odd electrical fault, many of the lights turned themselves on and off - at random - throughout the day!
ATE SUPERWEEKEND
10-11 May
We drove the long way south
to Uttoxeter, in Staffordshire, for a special residential 'Engineering
Superweekend' for school children. These weekends [and weeks too!] are
organised by an association called 'Active
Training and Education', or ATE for short. We ran workshops and
when the kids weren't with us they played games with ATE staff.
On the left you can see a photograph of the venue, Smallwood Manor,
and below that a group of participating Year 8 students from Oldfields
Middle School.
We have just had an opportunity to look at some of the 5-14 technology projects devised for Glasgow's primary schools.
It's very pleasing to see that the projects have been kept simple and realistic. It's a pity, however, that the urge to make them link across the ES curriculum has meant so many missed opportunities. 'Favourite' topics are 'The Victorians' for older children, and 'Toys' for the younger, as they are wide open to a wide range of exciting and relevant technology experience. To offer a very simple hand loom as a technology project for 'The Victorians' seems very sad - and inappropriate.
If any of our friends in Glasgow schools find some of the 'technical' bits don't work very well, then we would like to offer them an invitation to contact us for some 'friendly' tweaks - any time!
THE FLYING SCOT!
February
has seen the start of Edinburgh Science Festival Outreach workshops. We
have already travelled from Dumbarton in the west to Errol in the east
with numerous school visits in between, including Kirkhope PS in the Scottish
Borders. (See opposite)
I don't suppose many of you have heard of Errol which is situated
on the north side of the Tay between Perth and Dundee - but it could have
been one of the most famous places in the world! It was there that early
powered flights were made by Preston Watson, maybe as early as 1903 and
several months before the Wright Brothers first flight at Kittyhawk! (There
is also evidence that New Zealander Richard Pearse also got off the ground
in 1903 having designed and built both the aircraft and the engine! -
click
for more info on both Watson and Pearse)
One half of Rude Mechanicals, (that's me, website editor Dick), has just spent a week with wife and 'secretary' Ann (they're both the same person!) in the Irish Republic. This combined a holiday break with an opportunity of renewing contact with the Galway Science Festival Team.
While there I couldn't resist a visit to Birr Castle to see the restored telescope. I first viewed this magnificent structure over twenty years ago when all there was comprised the two retaining walls and the telescope tube. Built during the 19th century by the Third Earl or Rosse, this instrument with its 72 inch mirror, remained the biggest telescope in the world for three quarters of a century.
The Rosse [Parsons] family were truly remarkable scientists and engineers, way ahead of their time - Did you know that it's said that the first public space to be lit by electricity was the centre of Birr? It beats Edison's claim by just one year, the electricity was generated by a turbine in the river in the castle grounds. Speaking of turbines . . . . look up the 'Turbinia' designed and built by another member of the Parsons family!
The Mountain Ash
No eye can overlook when, 'mid a grove
Of yet unfaded trees, she lifts her head,
Deck'd with autumnal berries that outshine
Spring's richest blossoms."
Wordsworth
... and parked beneath the berries is a new-look 'Ivy'. We've had our trusty Trannie van re-sprayed for the new session. Sadly it meant losing our hand painted logos (Len's work). The replacements are, of course, computer cut vinyl - such is progress!
TWO MORE VISITS TO IRELAND, and . . .
We are just back from the Galway Science Festival where we ran kaleidoscope workshops for 15 classes from three schools over three days. A grand total of 450 kaleidoscopes! It was a great time and we can't wait to go back!
Last month (October) we visited Derry Science Festival for the first time. (What an attractive city Derry is). Our workshops were somewhat hampered by a shortage of time - it's always a problem to balance the number of groups one can take with the length of time you can give each group, and this is particularly difficult with a 'drop-in' format. We tend to think that a workshop should last at least 45 minutes - preferably an hour.
To cope with this situation at festivals that prefer 'drop-in' workshops we are designing and building what we believe will solve the problem.
EDINBURGH
SCIENCE FESTIVAL OUTREACH
'HIGHLAND TOUR'
The third week in
March has seen our most Northerly school visit and a lot of road miles
- 1,200 in fact! We spent a day at Poolewe in Wester Ross, home of the
famous Inverewe Gardens. We Poolewe Primary School were our hosts but
the numbers were boosted by pupils from Altbea - Kinlochewe - Badcaul
- Achnasheen . (If I've missed you out then please let me know.) We
worked with over a hundred boys and girls during the day, all arriving
by bus or car at the Poolewe Hall, pictured below.
The following day we were in Oban, at Park Primary School, the next day in Lamington PS (near Biggar) and Sanquhar PS and the day after that in Strathblane and Methven (near Perth!).
For more pictures of the Highland trip CLICK HERE
IRELAND 2004
Last November our now regular visit to Galway was preceded by a one day visit to the Sligo Science Fair. It turned out to be a very enjoyable experience for Len and myself (Ann gave this trip a miss). Good accommodation, both the b&b at Tree Tops and for the workshops at the Sligo Institute of Technology made the visit a joy from the word go. Organiser Maria's infectious enthusiasm combined with the natural politeness shown by all the children have ensured that we are looking forward to another visit next year.
Each
year that we have visited the Galway Science Festival,
(and this was our fourth visit), the experience has been very different.
This year many of our workshops were hosted by county libraries - at
Loughrea, Tuam and Oranmore. We also had a visit to the wilds of Connemara
with a day working in the Community hall at Letterfrack. Returning from
Letterfrack we stumbled on the sad remains of the Clyde puffer 'Pibroch'
which Len remembered seeing in use on the Clyde.
(This Pibroch was never steam powered but was equipped from the
start with a diesel engine). I couldn't resist showing you a couple
of photographs.