A Successful Repair Cafe with Abbey People!

On Friday 5th July, we hosted our first ever Repair Cafe at the Museum, in partnership with Abbey People. This event was in association with the Cambridge Carbon Footprint network who host a range of Repair Cafes across Cambridgeshire !

We had 69 items come through the door and our volunteer repairers managed to fix over 48 of them. This is the most items Abbey People have had at a Repair Café to date, and prevented around 197kg of waste and 1,053kg CO2 emissions, as well as helping a lot of people learn new skills. Over 30 people said that they would now try a repair themselves!

This is what some of the people who came along to the Repair Cafe had to say:

“Very friendly community event that brings people together to share knowledge, skills and experience. Well worth supporting!”

“I am very happy that repair cafe exists. It's really helping people”

“Brilliant initiative and many thanks for providing this service. So valuable to reduce waste and encourage people to improve their skills and increase their confidence”

Abbey People would like to give special thanks to the National Lottery players for their support through the National Lottery Climate Action funding the River Cam CAN (Climate Action through Nature) project. 

ISA Steam Competition! Cambridge Museum of Technology Judges!

ISA STEAM Competition – Judgement Day. 

Report by Andy Riches, Volunteer at Cambridge Museum of Technology. 

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Back in October 2023, the Cambridge Museum of Technology received a request from the National Arts Officer for the Independent Schools Association (ISA). Their members are Headteachers, and their aim is to offer them advice and support in all areas, and opportunities for their pupils. 

As part of their service, they offer a wide range of opportunities for pupils in the Performing Arts and Visual Arts within the 646 independent schools currently in membership with the ISA. 

Their arts programme encourages students to express their individuality and showcase their artistic talents, as well as build their confidence.  

They were looking for someone to adjudicate their STEAM competition and were wondering if a Heritage Steam charity would be interested in helping out. Our thinking was to try and reach out to another sector in the education field. 

 The STEAM Competition challenges KS2-KS3 students to create an invention based on a brief. Students are asked to submit a summary, and a creative presentation (PowerPoint, photos, drawing etc.) of their idea. The entries are then judged on creativity and innovation. 

Three entries per age group were short-listed as finalists for Judgement Day on March 8th 2024, and the young people who presented their work were truly amazing. It was enjoyable to sit through such high-quality presentations from the young people. 

Well done to everyone who took part in the competition this year, to the finalists and congratulations to the winners you can see the full list of results below: 

ISA STEAM Competition 2024 - RESULTS 

Click on the links below to see the winning projects: 

Year 3/4 
Design and build a device that can propel a soft toy a long distance. 
Kensington Wade School, Helen M, Christmas Catapult. 

Year 5/6 
Find a way to drop a raw egg from a height of at least 2m without it breaking. 
Crosfields School, Jamie C, Shell Defender. 

Year 7/9 
Design a device that would help someone with a disability to move around more easily. 
St Catherine’s School, Jocelyn F, Francesca P, Mila M, Gemma B and Armance Y, The Mobility Assist CP.