by Andrew Clarke

Last updated 16:25, Wednesday, 08 October 2008

PUPILS and parents benefited from a unique insight into the world of engineering at the fourth annual awareness day.

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Organised by St Benedict’s School, the event attracted more than 200 visitors to the 27 company stands that were on offer.

And hands-on activities were the order of the day with young people given the chance to use glove boxes, simulators, robots and other engineering-related tasks, extending to constructing a tower out of marshmallows and spaghetti!

Ian Lupton, director of engineering at St Benedict’s, said the day was a huge success.

“We invited local companies so parents and pupils could find out what’s available in engineering,” he said.

“When people think about engineering, they think of mechanics. But it’s also chemical, civil and electrical.

“There were a wide range of companies there on the day.

“It was a good turnout.”

There were three guest speakers at the event staged in Whitehaven Civic Hall: Peter Woolaghan from REACT Engineering, John Pacy of Atkins and Dr Dominic Rhodes, who spoke on ‘Diamond Mining to Cosmic Rays’. Other engineers, ambassadors, graduates and apprentices were on hand to share their experiences and hand out advice.

“Our main aim was to show what is available,” added Mr Lupton, who co-organised the day with the school’s admin assistant Mandy Pattinson.

“There are different pathways people could choose. We had previous graduates here showing how they got into engineering.

“Former pupils gave their point of view; a lot of our students go into engineering.”