A number of YMCA DownsLink Group’s young people from Horsham, Crawley and Brighton volunteered their time to help out at the Big Bang Fair South East organised by STEM Sussex, the STEM outreach department at the University of Brighton, on behalf of Engineering UK. It was the third annual Big Bang Fair South East, part of the nationwide Big Bang programme, the biggest single celebration of science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) for young people in the UK.
Pupils and teachers were treated to over 120 explosive demonstrations, colourful hands-on workshops and interactive displays from businesses, universities and other organisations across the region.
Organising the team of volunteers was a joint venture between YMCA DLG youth workers in Brighton (Julia Harrison and Helen O’Brien), Horsham (Tracey Wilkes) and Crawley (Lee Scott) to allow as many young people as possible the opportunity to experience working at an event of this scale and add a University of Brighton credit to their CVs. The young people and staff represented YMCA DLG projects such as the Horsham Y Centre, Crawley Foyer, WiSE, YAC and GP Champions
Young people Reece, Dan, Malachi and Joe from Horsham, Greg from Crawley and Amber, Chay and Sasha from Brighton & Hove did stewarding and got involved in other activities. They also had a chance to explore the huge number of science related exhibits and have some fun themselves.
