Annes Memories of Techniquest Glyndŵr

The world has shut down in the last few weeks and months. Lots of visitor attractions have closed due to Covid-19 and the threat it poses.

Most of these places are expecting to go back to their attractions after movement restrictions are lifted. Xplore! is a bit different, we were moving from our current site on Wrexham Glyndŵr University Campus on the 20th of April.

It is now safe to say we will never again open the doors of our Glyndŵr Discovery centre. 

When we return we will be based in our brand new science centre in the heart of Wrexham and while that’s exciting and new it is a bit sad as well.

With that in mind we think it would be lovely to share some of our staff members feelings, emotions and memories.

I’m Anne, I’ve worked at Xplore! (formerly Techniquest Glyndwr) since 2011

We received an e-mail at our Menter Iaith office in Denbigh informing us that TQG were looking for Welsh speakers to become presenters at their exciting Science centre in Wrexham. My work as a Children and Young Peoples Officer was nearing the end and it seemed a good way to carry on working with the same age group.

So without hesitation I called and I was sent a form to fill in and apply for an extremely exciting job as a Science Presenter! I received a reply from TQG!! An invitation to attend an interview came, together with the requirement to give a science demo during the interview! Wow, well I had done a few presentations before but not an experiment!

I did, “How to clean some copper money and make it brand new”. I used lemon juice and vinegar with salt... I recall that everything went well and I was asked if I would be happy to present other workshops, possibly in Welsh and of course I said, YES!!

Following the interview, we were given a tour of the centre. Following a call I was offered the post and duly started in May. 

I have spent a lot of the time on Outreaches which meant mostly two staff travelling together. We had no luxury Sat Nav’s as we do today and relied heavily on printing out a google maps sheet. The passenger then helped the driver to navigate. I have spent many a time in the middle of the deep countryside contemplating where exactly the school we were supposed to be working in was!

One outreach I recall was when myself and a colleague Rob were going to all the high schools in Anglesey. This would take two days to complete! On the last day we were in Amlwch, on a very windy day. We had done two sessions and we had one to do before lunch so as the pupils came in to start the session, the phone went in class so I answered the call.

The Headteacher rang to say that the school would be closing as soon as possible as the wind had picked up and everyone who needed to cross the Brittania bridge had to do so before 2.00pm. We had to pack up and go in record time it was a shame as we missed a free lunch at the school!

There have been lots of experiences and important events and certainly too many to write about but I remember when I was at a rural community in Powys working on a joint project with Snowdonia National Park.

We had the Dome there and where giving Stardome sessions for visiting school groups. I was told that the mayor would be visiting for the last session so no pressure!! But as I got ready for the group to arrive, the mayor and five other people came they included 2 local councillors, an AM MP and a camera man! I certainly wasn’t expecting that!

Certainly, at TQG we never do underestimate the power of the unexpected!!