PRESS RELEASE

 

Rotary Technology Tournament 2008

 

80 youngsters aged 12 to 16 from 7 schools took part in the 2008 Rotary Technology Tournament on March 6^th.    The task they had to undertake was to design and build a bridge spanning 0.8 metre for intermediate and advanced; 0.5 metre basic using a restricted range of materials, such as paper, drinking straws and thread.  The finished bridge had to support a 1 kilogramme weight without collapsing.    The teams did not know the nature of the task until they arrived at the Hewett School on the day of the tournament.    The younger competitors had to build a single span bridge, while the older ones had to build a bridge with one or two opening leaves, again depending on their age.    They had 30 minutes to complete the design, and 2½ hours to build the bridge.

The standard of the designs was very high, with a great deal of ingenuity shown.   The judges said that they were impressed with the enthusiasm shown by all the teams, and that there was a lot of value in the day.   The Chairman of the judges was impressed by the quality of the ideas and the construction of the bridges.   He also said that he thought that asking the pupils to work in teams rather than as individuals was excellent training.   One of the judges was Wing Commander Ken Wallis, O.B.E, who is very well known for his development of the autogiro.   He said: “If this event stirs up enthusiasm for engineering that is a good thing – we need that in Britain.”   He also said: “Unless you make a mistake you don’t make anything”.

The importance of the event was recognised by the attendance of the Lord Mayor of Norwich, Councillor Roy Blower, and the Lady Mayoress, who spent 2 hours watching the teams develop their designs.

The winning team in each category received £25.00 for their school and a trophy.  The teams placed 2^nd won £15.00 while the third placed teams won £10.00.   The results were:

Basic design (ages 12 to 13)

            Winners:         Langley School

            2^nd:                  Sprowston Community High School and Arts College

            3^rd:                  Reepham High School

Intermediate design (ages 14 to 15)

            Winners:         Norwich School

            2^nd:                  Langley School A team

            3^rd:                  Langley School B team

 

Advanced design       (ages 15 to 16)

            Winners:         Norwich School

            2^nd:                  City of Norwich School

            3^rd:                  Sprowston Community High School and Arts College

The tournament was organised by the Rotary Clubs of Norwich, Norwich St. Edmund and Reepham.

It was sponsored by :- Clancy Consulting - Mackinnon Construction Ltd - Chaplin Farrant Ltd - Norwich Engineering Society - Countrywide Surveyors  - CAM Architects