Lord Mayor's Show 2010

Over the autumn term of 2010, ICE London collaborated with five schools in a major initiative to take part in the Lord Mayor’s Show.

Watch “ICE London’s float at the Lord Mayor’s Show 2010” a 9 minute film which includes interviews with the children and ICE ambassadors at the school model-making workshops.

Our sponsors, ambassadors and supporter

ICE London took part in the Lord Mayor’s Show on Saturday 13 November 2010, entering a float in celebration of the next Lord Mayor of London – civil engineer and ICE Fellow Alderman Michael Bear.

Our involvement in the show was sponsored by engineering consultancies Arup and Balfour Beatty who also provided ten volunteers who took the role of ICE ambassadors.  The ambassadors visited each of the five schools in pairs, and gave the students an inspirational talk about civil engineering and its importance to society.  The ambassadors attended further model-making workshops with each school, run by creative arts organisation Kinetika.

In addition to our sponsors, Tower Hamlets Arts and Music Education Service (THAMES) supported the project by running a series of Saturday morning classes teaching their students to play samba rhythms on drums while walking in procession.


The day of the show 

ICE London’s human float of primary and secondary school students, teachers, and ICE London members and staff was led by Atom, a three metre high silver puppet and futuristic civil engineer.  Students from each of the five schools carried the models they had made of London’s iconic skyline and infrastructure, marching to the rhythm of the samba-drummers.  The models formed an impressive and eye-catching display, and included: the Gherkin, the Olympic Park Velodrome, a Docklands Light Railway train and tunnel, the Thames Barrier, the Millennium Bridge, London Array wind farm turbines, and the O2 Arena.  Atom, operated by a small team of students, waved to the crowds as our procession strode through the City of London.

ICE President Peter Hansford addressed the float participants before the procession started, and gave his support along the processional route.

ICE London’s participation in the Lord Mayor’s Show would not have possible without the involvement of:

Sponsors Arup and Balfour Beatty
Tower Hamlets Arts and Music Education Service (THAMES)
Central Foundation Girls’ School, Bow
Claremont High School, Harrow
Frederick Bremer School, Walthamstow
Malmesbury Primary School, Bow
Newstead Wood School for Girls, Orpington

And the ICE ambassadors:
Paul Bailie, Arup
Jonathan Cox, Balfour Beatty
Jerome Girodet, Balfour Beatty
Kevin Hargreaves, Balfour Beatty
Stephen Hudson, Arup
Liam McGreavy, Balfour Beatty
Austin Richards, Balfour Beatty
Emily Roberts, Arup
Simon Shreeve, Arup
Dave Warley, Balfour Beatty

Many thanks must go to them all for their commitment to this project.

Find out how to become an ICE schools ambassador
Read the news article

Extensive coverage

Over 300,000 people lined the route of the show, which in 2010, was in its 795th year. BBC coverage reached around 2 million people worldwide.

Alderman Michael Bear, Lord Mayor of London:

“There are many exciting projects keeping London’s civil engineers busy; from engineering the Olympic Park to delivering Crossrail, the Tube upgrades and the Thames Tunnel. I hope that the students involved in ICE’s float and those watching along the route or at home, will be inspired by the breadth of skills they could develop and the career opportunities offered within this profession.”

Feedback from students:

(pictured) students from Malmesbury Primary School

Marwa and Runelle, both 13 year old students at Central Foundation Girls’ School in Bow, spoke about what they had gained from participating in the project:

Marwa: “Being involved in The Lord Mayor’s Show is a once in a lifetime opportunity. My dad was a civil engineer making sure roads are safe and I’m proud to be part of a float about engineering.”

Runelle: “I developed team building skills, and learnt how important engineering is to our lives. Engineers need to work in a team even when they don’t know each other otherwise everything would fall down around us.”