Assembly Member for Bridgend Carwyn Jones - also known as Wales' First Minster - and pupils of St Mary's Catholic Primary School became ‘trainee Civil Engineers’ for the day when they donned high-visibility vest, hard hats, safety gloves and goggles to build a mini version of the Second Severn Crossing.
Mr Jones was taking part in the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) Wales Cymru Bridge to Schools programme at the Bridgend school, which is designed to show young people what a civil engineer is and does, giving them a practical insight into construction and the built environment.
The children were given a health and safety induction before specific jobs were allocated to them. The children then had to work in two teams to construct the fourteen metre long cable stayed bridge including assembling the decking and attaching and tightening the cables. The session was delivered by ConstructionSkills Wales and civil engineering ambassadors - representatives of the industry who give their time to work with young people - from Arup, Laing O’Rourke and Alun Griffiths (Contractors) Ltd. The event was kindly sponsored by Careers Wales.
Carwyn Jones AM said:
“Bridge to Schools is an exciting and engaging introduction to engineering for children. I thoroughly enjoyed joining the children and seeing the impressive result of their hard work building the bridge. I hope that the experience encourages more children to aspire to a future in engineering.”
Keith Jones, Director ICE Wales Cymru said:
“We regularly take our two bridges to schools across Wales, and also make it available to home schooled children, to give young people an insight into civil engineering. We are thrilled that Carwyn Jones was able to join us today and experience for himself a little of what being a civil engineer is all about and join the thousands of children who have already had the unique opportunity of building a bridge themselves.”
Wyn Prichard, Wales Director of CITB-ConstructionSkills, said:
“As the Sector Skills Council and Industry Training Board for construction we are responsible for working on behalf of industry to attract new talent to this vital sector for Wales’ economy. We are pleased to support the Bridge to Schools programme as it opens up the world of construction to young people in a fun and interactive way, with the aim of encouraging these young people to become the construction stars of the future. It was also fantastic to see the First Minister taking such an interest in this initiative.”
(Photo by Betina Skovbro Photography)