My grandson attends St John’s and I recently asked his class teacher if she would like me to visit with my Bloodhound Roadshow.  She said that she would and so on July 20th I set off for Trowbridge.

I started by introducing myself and then showed the class the Powerpoint presentation kindly supplied by the Bloodhound SSC Project.  The children were all very pleased that most of them were able to answer most of the questions in the quiz correctly.  We then investigated how a feather and a pebble would fall when released at the same time from the same height.  I asked the children which would hit the ground first and they all correctly said that it would be the pebble.  We then discussed the reasons why the feather was slower to fall.  The feather and the pebble were each put into a plastic tub and the question was asked again.  This time most of the children correctly said that the two would hit the ground at the same time.

The main activity was making “rocket-powered” card models of the Bloodhound car, kindly provided by the project.  Helping thirty-something young pupils cut out the cars and attach all the bits and pieces kept Miss Ball, the class teacher; her two assistants; and myself very busy, but soon all the cars were completed and tested on the children’s desks.  We then all went to the school hall to give the cars a proper run each.  The first car travelled around eleven metres and was not beaten until the end of the session when another car travelled eleven and a half metres.  Back in the classroom, I presented the owner of the best car with a Bloodhound SSC poster.

It was a good morning with all the children taking an active part in the discussions and the activities - and only a few balloons were over-inflated, much to the shock of the children blowing them up!

Chris Henley
Bloodhound Ambassador