The recently held ‘Vertikal Days’ crane exhibition at Haydock Park Newton-Le-Willows Merseyside saw Liebherr-Great Britain Ltd sponsor a 2 day charity event. This event, called ‘My Future My Choice’, hosted a group of 9-10 years olds from Allanson Street Primary School, St Helens and a number of 12-14 year olds from Maghull High School in Liverpool.
My Future My Choice aims at promoting engineering to young people between the ages of 9 and 16. By bringing schools and businesses together to focus on an active practical project the children involved gain an insight into what a potential career in engineering might involve as well as developing interpersonal relationships and gaining confidence.
After an initial introduction by Hugh Thomas (MFMC Director and Workshop Leader) which saw him demonstrate the basic engineering principles of pully systems and hydraulics, the children were divided into teams of 6 and tasked, along with a apprentice or staff member of Liebherr-Great Britain Ltd, with building a crane from a cardboard template using a system of water filled syringes and pipes to simulate the hydraulics.
Audience participation was the name of the game with children of both age groups and the Liebherr team demonstrating their public speaking skills and volunteering as guinea pigs for Hugh as he proved the principles of engineering.
During their lunch break the teams got the opportunity to visit the exhibition stands to see ‘real live’ cranes and find out whatever facts they could about them.
The afternoon session saw the ‘Crane Off’ where each team was tasked with operating their crane to pick up a ball and drop it into a bucket, the winners being those that completed it in the shortest time.
The days culminated in a presentation on the Liebherr stand where again the children were invited to ‘take the mic’ and sum up their experiences. The winning teams were then presented with their prizes but all children went away with a Liebherr goody bag.
Ed Hudson, General Manager of the Crane aftersales for Liebherr-Great Britain Ltd, commented that “It was a real privilege to be involved with My Future My Choice. Our apprentices did us proud with their technical knowledge and their ability to engage with and mentor the children to help make the event a great success for all involved.”
Hugh Thomas summed up the event by saying “Support from Liebherr, through funding and a team of apprentices has been invaluable in developing our Lifting Aspirations Education Resource for school children. Support like this from within the industry sector is essential if children are going to be excited by science and technology. Working alongside the diverse team from Liebherr has helped children see engineering and specifically the lifting industry as a lifestyle choice for their future. Liebherr also showcased how the event could be used to build leadership and team-working skills for their apprentices as well as encouraging the development of these attributes in the school children.”