BLOODHOUND Ambassador Chris Henley makes a second visit to Matravers School in Wiltshire.

This was a return journey to Matravers School in Westbury, Wiltshire for another STEM evening.  My visit in October 2011 must have been a success as I had been invited back!  This time I had written a short Powerpoint presentation which I had intended to display on my stand.  However, Miss Venter, who had invited me, suggested that I played it on the large screen over the stage in the main hall and there it ran continuously for the entire evening.

It was good to meet James, who had won the competition last time, again.  He wondered if different diameters of straws used for the “rocket” engine of the cars would make a difference, so I gave him three different diameter straws and asked him to do some research and let me know.

This time there was a constant procession of youngsters and their parents who wanted to build and race the model cars.  It was interesting to see the keenness and competitiveness of some of the parents to help their children build their cars.

For a long time the competition to travel the furthest was held by Charlie, a year six pupil at a local primary school, but the eventual winner of the competition was Emily, a pupil at Matravers, whose car travelled 12.06 metres before it was stopped by the end wall of the hall.  She was very pleased to be presented with a Bloodhound poster signed by Andy Green.

Once again I had a thoroughly enjoyable, if very busy, evening and would like to thank Miss Venter for inviting me, Miss Drewitt for taking some of the photographs and Emily’s Dad for taking the photograph of the poster presentation.

Chris Henley
Bloodhound Ambassador