Dawns Memories of Techniquest Glyndwr

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.

Hi, I’m Dawn and I joined Xplore, formerly Techniquest Glyndŵr. in 2011. 


The last nine years have flown by and I’ve enjoyed many happy moments in our old premises.

I joined as a Science Communicator but quickly moved into other roles, and most of my time has been spent working on projects. It’s exciting to develop new activities, trial new initiatives and engage different audiences. We always try to make STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) accessible to all, and it’s a real buzz when we are awarded grants that enable us to do even more for our local area.

Particular highlights for me include being interviewed for Wales’ regional news about our gender equality programme and attending a launch event at Airbus with Prince Charles!  


I’ll always remember one particularly busy community fun day in March 2012, where I helped many families build, walk across and then take apart a 12m long model bridge.  I got home exhausted to find a treasure hunt from my boyfriend, luckily I played along as it ended with an engagement ring!

Not everything has always gone smoothly; I’ve had a young person faint on me while doing an eye dissection and I’ve had to improvise on countless occasions when technology or experiments haven’t gone to plan, however that just adds to the job!

Over the last couple of years, I’ve been involved in our ‘Heart of the Community’ programme, working towards moving our discovery centre into Wrexham town centre and inspiring even more people with science. 

My current role is Projects Officer and I have a wonderful team dedicated to making our vision for the future a reality. They are already transforming what and how we do things, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, and are continuously establishing brilliant new community partnerships.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have seen inside our new Xplore! site throughout the building works and I’m very excited about moving in and showing it to you all. The best part of my job is seeing projects come together and people enjoying our activities, and I can’t wait to see what you think of the new centre!

If you have ideas as to how Xplore! can support you, your family or your community, please get in touch: projects@xplorescience.co.uk

#inspiringsciencefund