Sidmouth Science Festival: review

The Herald has showcased the Science Festival - which in fact opened this evening with a session at the Norman Lockyer Observatory:

Sidmouth serves up second science festival

Stephen SumnerSaturday, October 12, 2013
11:00 AM

KNOWLEDGE-HUNGRY crowds will have their appetites sated when Sidmouth hosts its second science festival from tomorrow (Saturday).

Organiser Dave Bramley said: “The week provides everyone in the community with an opportunity to get involved with some science.Building on the success of last year’s inaugural event, the week-long programme features everything from the light-hearted and hands-on to the seriously technical and academic. Esteemed professors, comedians and choirs will be looking at things up close and far away, panning for gold and bringing art and science into explosive combinations.

“The way we are presenting the content should be accessible to all.”

Sidmouth College starts things off tomorrow with a science-themed quiz and a curry, before award-winning comedian Helen Keen presents her quirky, offbeat show ‘It IS Rocket Science!’

In between, Victor Papai will be pursuing a ‘fungus foray’, endocrinologist Dr Chris Burke will be leading ‘another romp around some hormones’ and television geologist Professor Iain Stewart will be taking his audience behind the scenes on his BBC series Rise of the Continents.

Among the most successful events last year were the hands-on activities and this year, students from the universities of Exeter and Plymouth will again encourage youngsters to get involved in all kinds of experiments and see the ever-popular futuristic robots.

The festival is organised by the Vision Group for Sidmouth and the Norman Lockyer Observatory. More than 1,500 students and schoolchildren will be doing something science-related in the run-up to and during the festival, which is based on the theme ‘Science in Our Lives’.

Alastair Bates, from the Sidmouth branch of law firm Gilbert Stephens LLP, which is sponsoring the event, said: “Well done to the organisers for making this year’s festival a highlight of Sidmouth’s calendar of events.”

For a full programme of the week’s events, see www.sidmouthsciencefestival.org.

Sidmouth serves up second science festival - News - Sidmouth Herald
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