THOUSANDS of people’s engineering imagination was brought to life recently with record numbers attending this year’s Spark festival.
More than 9,000 people visited the event held in Lincoln Cathedral. Those who went along not only discovered how influential Lincolnshire has been over the years within the engineering industry, but also how the county’s engineers now design and produce vital components for markets across the globe.
People of all ages enjoyed the innovative and interactive exhibits that showcased how engineering relates to everyday life in areas such as technology, building/construction and travel, ranging from an everyday bicycle to the ‘time travelling’ DeLorean that featured in the Back to the Future films.
Chairman of the festival Paul Taylor said: “Engineering plays a part in most aspects of day-to-day living – from the alarm clocks that wake us up in the morning, the roads and bridges we use and cross on the way to school or work, to the toothbrushes we use before bed.
“The aim of Spark is to inform the public about the vast range of opportunities available within engineering and it was great to see people discover first-hand how simple processes can be applied to technology and create objects and components used within the industry.”
People can already look forward to other events designed to inject even more fun into engineering, including SPARKler! which is taking place on 4 November at the University of Lincoln. Here teams comprising companies, members of the public, school pupils and college students will work together with professional engineers to design, build and race a go-kart.
Events are being supported by the Royal Academy of Engineering as part of its ingenious public engagement programme to provide opportunities for the public to meet professional engineers and learn about the exciting work they carry out.
Paul Taylor added: “We would like to thank all businesses and individuals who were involved for making this year’s Spark festival such a success. We hope those who came along have been inspired to consider a career in this vitally important sector and are looking forward to seeing even more people enjoy engineering at our future events.”
For more information about SPARKler!, contact Dr Colin Dowding at cdowding@lincoln.ac.uk
Spark Engineering Festival was organised by a collaboration of local organisations, businesses and education establishments, coordinated by City of Lincoln Council and supported by The Education Business Partnership, Lincolnshire Chamber of Commerce, Optima Design, and PR and digital firm Cartwright Communications. The event was also sponsored by GLLEP, Investors in Lincoln, Streets Chartered Accountants and LEAP. Exhibitors include a range of engineering businesses such as Siemens, James Dawson, Dynex Semiconductor Ltd, Micrometric, NMB Minebea and many more.