News of the Club spread quickly as pupils showed their new skills to peers and parents and offers of ‘help’ arrived, often quite unexpectedly from those feeling an empathy with the newly formed club. We were given solder and wire and components and left over bits of electronics and science magazines and old radios and then invitations and challenges and offers of help or visits ........
Many of these early offers were taken up and still continue to provide opportunities for the PHS pupils. One such offer came from the Electrical Engineering Department at Edinburgh University to take all club members for a soldering training day. Members of staff at the University were so amazed at the standard of competence of the members they arranged a return visit in May 1994 when 23 club members were challenged to work in teams to build and test signal generators, a task deemed difficult for their own undergraduates!! By way of encouragement they were treated to real coffee and top class sandwiches for lunch too. The pupils were all successful and delighted to return to school with their ‘prize’ of six fully operational signal generators, complete with their names and the University logo. This wonderful opportunity led to PHS having an Edinburgh workshop every year since then . During one such busy workshop in late November the question was asked as to how the lab, almost full of boys, could be filled predominantly with girls, rather than vice versa. From somewhere came the idea of a ‘Blue Peter’ activity. We could suggest that next year our YEC could act as technicians and we could invite all S3 physics girls to design a Christmas Card, mount it on board, bring this along and at the workshop they would all learn to solder, light up their card and cover it in sticky back plastic to take home. During the following year the decision on the appropriate circuit was more difficult and expensive than first thought, but co-operation between the University and our own ‘expert’ provided home-made circuits with a pre-programmed chip that supported five flashing lights. PHS pupils have been ‘lighting up’ ever since. The pre-programmed chips have long given way to programmable chips so pupils can now offer circuits to twinkle, flicker, flash and change colour and have provided an endless supply of circuits for charitable and entrepreneurial causes from the tiniest circuits inside plastic noses for red nose day to over 100 twinkling lights on the schools largest hand painted Christmas card that was so admired recently at this year’s Science and the Parliament Day at Our Dynamic Earth. Plans are afoot to ‘light up’ the Astronomer Royal during the year of Astronomy and we have news this week that ZOT Engineering have agreed to provide free of charge enough PCBs to allow a Pilot scheme for Primary teachers to work with Peebles High School Young Engineers towards incorporating some of these circuits in their projects.
Every year since that first workshop at least one YEC member has joined the Edinburgh Electrical Engineering department, so that during the visit new pupils often meet delighted ex Peebles High School pupils ready to re-assure them that a place at Edinburgh is possible if they work hard.
Contact with Edinburgh University also involved the Physics department, most notably to share their enthusiasm for the connection with music and to encourage YEC members to experiment. From early ‘fuzz boxes’ and radios members soon progressed to amplifiers and a request from the school music department for a small battery operated guitar amplifier led to the building of a circuit on strip board which was housed with its battery inside a neat metal box with sockets for the smart earphones, so popular at the time. Completion of the prototype coincided with the invitation to the first SCDI event at the SECC in Glasgow where YEC members were invited to present their inventions to a large audience hosted by Kate Bellingham. A fully scrubbed and well rehearsed team from PHS demonstrated their guitar amp and were highly commended by both their teacher and the judges. The prototype was modified and a PCB produced leading to a production first of the ten units for their school and later to satisfy a regular demand from the guitar players. Five years ago a newly graduated YEC returnee asked club members to build ten amplifiers to take to Prague, where he was working with young musicians. The intensive build session prompted a further re design so that the current amplifiers are available in shiny, see through plastic cases.
Now fully convinced that anything could be possible, one guitar playing member wanted to build a large, portable, battery operated amplifier suitable for busking in the Royal Mile and strong enough to sit on. Two years later the first ‘Busking Box’ was complete and tested. This long term project with so many decisions along the way has inspired many YEC members, most notably the pupil who chose to build the prototype box and diligently carry out the sound tests for his S6 project. He continued to Guilford and is now a sound engineer with EMI, responsible for many of today’s star recordings.
Early help was also offered by the then Ferranti Company in Edinburgh, where there was still significant ‘in house’ training. Members visited the workshops, found placements and were visited by engineers. Throughout the many changes in ownership and ethos the link has remained strong. In 2005 the Selex S6 initiative was instituted to encourage Advanced Higher Physics pupils to be innovative when completing their practical project. Selex-Galileo invite those pupils wishing to be involved to visit their Edinburgh site to see for themselves where practical science skills are still in daily use at the cutting edge. They are then offered expert help or advice if and when needed and the project that best fulfils all SQA criteria and has that extra innovative effort is awarded the Selex-Galileo Certificate and book token. This pilot is now into its third successful year with eleven pupils currently working towards the 2009 award.
When news of the enthusiastic core of PHS pupils reached Heriot-Watt University they too were keen to offer help and to invite members to workshops, lectures and competitons. PHS teams were delighted to scoop all the prizes in the very first Heriot-Watt inter schools Robotic football competition and have continued to win almost every year since. Heriot-Watt, like Edinburgh, have been eager to interest female club members so there has been keen competition over the years to join the excellent ‘Girls get Set Week’ and now to respond to the ‘Dragonfly’ invitation. Many YEC members have now successfully completed courses at Heriot-Watt.
The interest sparked in Robotics has had its spin off too. PHS were national winners of the UKOOA robotics competition and eager co-operators in the development of the Rampaging Chariot Robot. The request for ‘help’ from their leader by Edinburgh RAF cadets to build a robot for BBC Robot Wars led to the creation of ‘Typhoon’, the world champion. The overwhelming experience inspired the cadets and leader to contemplate producing a far simpler robot capable of competing in the newly formed British Robotic Games and involving more young people. The decision to use the cheapest materials available to build a football playing robot was taken and the Rampaging Chariot was born from a wooden box and two battery powered electric drills. PHS YEC pupils were keen to join the team and help produce enough robots to win the National Award against all other designs. This in turn has led to successful applications for funding so that there are now over two hundred Rampaging Chariots built from kits distributed throughout Scotland, many via the SCDI YEC network.
In 2004 the PHS club was chosen as Young Engineer Clubs Scotland ‘Scottish Club of the Year’ and were invited to the Award Ceremony at the Royal Naval College in Greenwich to the Young Engineer for Britain competition. The delighted team were presented with the an award for the Best Teamwork by Top Gear’s Richard Hammond. The one girl on the team was seventeen on the special day too and currently continues her fourth year of Electrical Engineering at Edinburgh University.
Selex-Galileo have provided funding and arranged an annual Rampagaing Chariots national Event in Edinburgh where teams compete against each other. The Peebles H
From the early days, club members have been eager to take part in the SCDI showcase event and have enjoyed much success both in presentations and in the Technology Challenge, of which they are current winners. In 2000 PHS was Club of the Year after a remarkable sequence of events prompted by a request to the Club from a new first year pupil for a device to help his armchair bound father crippled with arthritis. His father wanted to answer the door, open the latch, speak over an intercom, make a limited number of phone calls and trigger an alarm from his wheelchair. His son was convinced that the YEC members, by now a well established group, could do this. He persisted in his request until they really listened. When in early 1998 the SCDI informed us that the IEE were offering a prize for the development of a device to help the disabled, four members of the YEC asked permission to meet the father and listen to his needs first hand. The meeting had a profound effect on all four and together they rapidly conceived the idea that became ‘Comraid’ . The device was drawn by the art teacher, then modelled in clay and shown to the father, just what he needed was his response, but was all the technology available and could it be fitted into the available space? There were so many questions to be answered, but the ideas were sound. Circuits were built to simulate the functions and a thorough survey carried out to ensure that no similar device existed. The IEE duly invited the team to London where the device was highly recommended and sufficient funding made available to order a prototype case from CA models in Fife. The reality of the beautiful case inspired tremendous effort to complete the internal design and enter Comraid for the National John Logie Baird Award which it duly won. Added to this the team were awarded Borders Enterprise Young Inventors Award and Young Business Award and were advised to register a company that could be used to keep Comraid ‘on hold’. There was an approach made by a local investor and a serious attempt made to go into production there and then, but the idea was ahead of its time and the blue tooth system required too expensive. Today the Company is still on hold and the Comraid Team are completing their studies. Over the decade since its conception the Comraid has looked more and more possible as radio control has become the norm. As another ‘director’ graduated M. Eng. 1st class in 2008 the possibility of further development remains alive.
The simple reality of a small core of enthusiasts, easy to contact and quick to respond has proved to be beneficial not only to club members but very often to the wider school community. When different year groups and ability ranges regularly work naturally together, teamwork and co-operation grow. Strong team players often form the nucleus for other activities, school charity events being notable examples. Organisations such as Sci-Fun, Edinburgh University Outreach, Dark Sky Scotland, Edinburgh Royal infirmary and many others have been happy to enjoy the co-operation of club members when organising events at Peebles High School.
The flavour of the PHS club can be tasted by visiting their own web site at phsengineering.net. As the SCDI aim to expand their membership from the present 280 clubs to every school, the PHS pupils are delighted to be playing their part by currently working on an electronics workshop with their feeder primaries. At this time of significant educational reform it is re-assuring to see that the ideals of Young Engineers and Science Clubs are at the very heart of the Curriculum for Excellence.
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