a lovely end to week ending 11 October
A super end to the week with a day at Sidmouth Science Festival with a wind tunnel rocket display for Super Science Saturday, and a poster of information about the Norman Lockyer Observatory, plus a painting of a train at Dawlish by John Meacham. John is keen to sell some paintings to raise funds for the NLO. Bizarrely, this painting attracted the attention of a fellow member whom I know through a group at the NLO but had not been aware of his interest in trains. He is keen to meet John soon to see his other paintings and enjoy his oo gauge railway. The wind tunnel model attracted some attention, but the whole exhibit was helped by the playing of a short video showing the rocket take off. A static display is not as evidently exciting as a moving, state of the art, 3D printer which was next to us. However, I was pleased that the information about the NLO sparked many interesting conversations, as much as did the rocket, with lots of people expressing interest or supporting our efforts to raise the profile of what was generally deemed by those we spoke with, to be a place of national importance. We left feeling tired but happy. Conversations with interested people will be mulled over for some time to come. There was universal agreement that education and opportunities were so much improved for today’s young people, and especially the opportunities for women were noted. I received some positive feedback for the recent Mary Browne event, which was really nice and left me feeling positive for future such events.
There was no putting our feet up though as we joined a local group for a fun harvest supper and quiz. The food was delicious and most welcome, while the questions were a bizarre mix of joke answers and obscure knowledge.
