The Royal Cornwall Show held over 3 days, 10th, 11th and 12th June 2010 at Wadebridge was the venue for a joint venture between the Institution of Civil Engineers and Institution of Structural Engineers to take Engineering to the Public. We prepared a stand with models of structures, posters about engineering and panels from local firms showing the local work being undertaken by Engineers. Volunteers staffed the stand at the show between 8am and 6 pm over all 3 days providing information and leaflets to show goers. There was the opportunity for both children and adults to build bridges and to discuss the different types of bridges with the volunteers. There were a number of influential contacts made and the engineers had the opportunity to discuss the creation of the Eco-Towns with the local Member of Parliament and other issues with local Councillors.
Over the 3 days we must have seen over a 1000 people and given out 800 packs of information which included IStructE flyers, career advice and general information, 520 Little Books of Civilisation, 180 Insite magazines, and a small quantity of ICE Student guides. We made useful contacts with a number of colleges some of whom are starting an apprenticeship programme in construction.
It was an enjoyable experience and hopefully we have managed to influence some of the next generation of engineers. As a minimum we have educated and informed a number of people as to the value of engineers and engineering and the role we play in society.