Jenny Harvey (left) with children from St Bernadette's and some of the Lotte team
LOTTE
Chemicals had not hosted a visit for Children Challenging Industry for quite
some time. We began with an initial meeting to update Jackie Petford and the
team on what it entails. Joanne Route, who was the Industry Liaison Officer and
Tony Johnson, who hosts regular visits at Huntsman (also on the Wilton site)
were present, along with me and two members of the LOTTE team. Initially
hesitant due to the time lapse since the last visit, the ideas and plans came
rapidly into fruition. Jackie remembered hosting previous visits and the other
members of her team became more and more enthused about the whole idea. A firm
plan was put in place and the visit date was booked.
After
providing and paying for the coach, for which St Bernadette’s RC Primary School
were eternally grateful, the LOTTE team sprang into action with a brief
introduction from the CEO, a Health and Safety talk and a quick tour of the
site. Hard hats, lab coats and specs were provided by the CCI team. The
children got to see the control room in action and a series of exciting
experiments in each of the real laboratories. One child commented that ‘It was
great to see what really goes on in one of those labs, instead of what you see
on the telly!’ The morning finished with a set of photographs being taken of
the group and a healthy drink and snack being given by the LOTTE team. The
children were buzzing with conversations about what they had seen and learned
from the visit all the way back to school. Several children said that they had not
expected it to be as interesting as it was and they were more likely to study
science subjects in future. A great success all round!
Jenny
Harvey, CIEC Advisory Teacher for
the North East
