Marches centre captures youngsters’ imagination at new children’s club

Children as young as nine got to grips with 3D printing, coding and smart electronics when they participated in a special Engineering Club in Bridgnorth.

The Marches Centre of Manufacturing & Technology (MCMT) teamed up with Black Country Atelier (BCA) to offer a series of activities spanning five days.

Activities included designing and making a programmable Tamagotchi-style pet, constructing the widest bridges and tallest skyscrapers and the challenge of creating a rocket car.

In total, 15 young people - aged between nine and 13 - were supported by MCMT staff/apprentices and instructors from BCA to come up with ideas, work with hand tools and access some of the technology installed at the 36,000 sq ft facility on the Stanmore Industrial Estate.

“The skills gap has been well documented and a lot of time has been spent in engaging secondary school pupils who are considering what to do next after their GCSEs,” said Matthew Snelson, Managing Director of the MCMT.

“However, what we have been missing is talking to the grassroots level, with children aged between nine and 13. This a really key time before pupils make their subject choices, so we wanted to put on an exciting and challenging week that introduced them to STEM and the world of engineering and manufacturing.”

He continued: “We need to inspire and show them that engineering can be a great career, that there’s lots of exciting technologies you can use and that you may just have an idea that will change the way we all live.”

The Engineering Club gave future engineers and scientists a fully immersive experience of design and engineering.

Children worked on several practical, hands-on projects throughout the week, using a full range of traditional and modern engineering tools, such as hand fabrication and finishing tools, Computer Aided Design (CAD), 3D printers and programmable controllers.

At the end of each day, the children got to show and tell others about their projects, take part in a construction test and race their rocket cars to see which was the fastest.

Engineers from local businesses were also on hand to give various demos during the club. These ranged from the art of mechanics of classic car vehicle maintenance to advanced robotics and destructive material testing.

The Marches Centre of Manufacturing & Technology is based across two training centres in Shrewsbury and Bridgnorth.

The latter was an old storage facility for Grainger & Worrall, which has been transformed into the modern centre, providing a high-tech environment for individuals to learn from engineering experts on the latest technology – all geared towards giving them opportunities to apply their new found skills on real life manufacturing situations.

It is equipped with over £3m of state-of-the-art equipment, including dedicated fabrication, foundry, lathe, metrology, milling, robotics and vehicle trimming sections.

There is also a 200-seat auditorium, smaller break-out classrooms and a CNC Zone that is full of 3-axis and 5-axis machines donated by the Engineering Technology Group.

For further information, please visit www.mcmt.co.uk or follow @marchescentre on twitter