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Ashdown Alchemists |
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This year an exciting new Science Society has been created at Ashdown House under the name of the 'Ashdown Alchemists'. The aim of the society is to allow pupils in their final year the chance to listen to external speakers giving presentations about aspects of Science in everyday life. When revising for Scholarship or Common Entrance exams, Science might seem to be reduced to cramming important formulae and facts, but the society aims to show that Science occurs outside the classroom and is fun too. In the Autumn term the inaugural talk was given by Mr Neil Lunnon of Wellington College, who gave a very funny and exciting talk on the mating calls of animals. This included several amazing clips off the internet that illustrated the amazing tactics employed by animals to attract a mate. This term local resident Mr Marc ter Kuile gave a very polished and thoughtful presentation on climate change. Marc attended the international course organised by Nobel Prize winning environmentalist Al Gore in America, and is one of the few people trained to deliver the slideshow presentation version of the film 'An Inconvenient Truth'. Everyone learnt a great deal from the talk and it seems to have fuelled a desire to set up an 'environment committee' of pupils charged with assessing and minimising Ashdown's effects on the environment. Future speakers already booked include an inventor and an ex-Vulcan bomber pilot, so it seems as if the Alchemists are going from strength to strength. AB |
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