Information Bulletin
24 June 2004
Baltasound Junior High School success at National Award Event for Young Engineer Clubs
Baltasound Junior High School's Young Engineer Club was awarded the title of club of the year at the Scottish Council for Development and Industry (SCDI) Celebration of Engineering event held at Hampden Park, Glasgow last Friday. The club beat off competition from over thirty other school clubs from across Scotland.
The award was presented to the school's Young Engineer Club for their innovative project work in designing a Lambox and Colour Coded detector .
The Lambox is designed for crofters to use literally in the field. Often when lambs are abandoned by the ewe they become prey to swaabies and crows or just die of hypothermia. The box is an innovative idea put forward by Mrs Fraser, the Physics teacher at the school. The development of the box is still in progress but the intention is that the box would keep the lamb protected and warm for 5 or 6 hours after which time the crofter can come back to tend the animal. The design team believe the box could save thousands of lambs per year and are hoping that they can market and sell the final design to crofters in Shetland and beyond.
The Colour Coded Detector (CCD) is an innovation from club member, Jennifer Richardson. It is a device to help a blind person living alone choose their own clothing. When the device is pointed at a black garment the buzzer will sound; at a white or light garment a different buzzer will sound. A blind person can experience more independence in their choice of clothing using the CCD device.
The Baltasound Young Engineer Club's reward for winning the competition was a cheque for £750, the trophy from the SCDI, and an invitation to the Grand Gala Ball in Glasgow in November (all expenses paid), where the team will dine with government ministers and dignitaries from the Engineering Industry.
In the meantime, the club are hoping to attract sponsorship from local businesses to develop their project prototypes.
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