Children Challenging Industry visit to LOTTE Chemicals

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