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Science Festival 2022 starts this week, 10 years on

  • by JW

… started by a small team from the Vision Group for Sidmouth in 2012.

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It was ten years ago when the first Sidmouth Sci Fest was launched:

The Sidmouth Science Festival was started by a small team from the Vision Group for Sidmouth, part of the Transition Town initiative.

With so many technical issues being faced by society we believe that our communities will make better decisions if they have a deeper understanding of the underlying science and technology. We aim to make people aware of how the STEM subjects (science, technology engineering and maths) play a part in what we take for granted in everyday life. 

Sidmouth Science Festival started in 2012 with a weekend of science events in Sidmouth and at the nearby Norman Lockyer Observatory as well as a single day in local schools and art in the local gallery.

Since then it has grown to a 10 day event with over 120 activities

History | Sidmouth Science Festival

With a couple of articles marking the first festival ten years ago:

Explosive line-up for Sidmouth Science Festival | Sidmouth Herald

Packed main day at Sidmouth Science Festival | Exmouth Journal

And the very first press release from 2012:

Welcome to Sidmouth SCIENCE Festival 2012 from 16th  to 21st October in various venues in and around Sidmouth, brought to you by a team of volunteers from the Vision Group for Sidmouth (VGS), part of the Transition Town movement. We hope it will be the first of many.

With so many technical issues being faced by society e.g. GM crops, Nuclear Power, Stem Cell Research, Climate Change etc, we believe that our communities will make better decisions if they have a deeper understanding of the underlying science and technology.

We also aim to make people aware of how science and engineering play a part in what we
take for granted in everyday life such as mobile ‘phones and satellite television. We hope that this festival will awaken and further your interest in science and technology and help to inform you of how science affects us all.

Sustainable Crediton – First Sidmouth Science Festival

Here’s the programme for this year’s festival – starting this week:

Sidmouth Science Festival 2022 

Sidmouth Science Festival returns to its full capacity in October for a fun and educational week consisting of over 80 events ranging from hands-on activities to serious talks plus a visit from a rather large robot as well as much more: in fact there are events for all ages and abilities and most of them are free. 

The Festival runs from Friday 7th until Sunday 16th October. 

Talks run throughout the week with highlights this year including BBC`s Tom Heap – 39 Ways to Save the Planet, Andy Murphy- Hydrogen Transport, Tom Whipple Science Editor at The Times and Dr Becky Smethurst explaining about Black Holes. 

Saturday 8th October is Super Science Saturday when the town is taken over for the day. Free events include the schools’ art exhibition on the topic of Robots, Geology in Our Lives, Met Office forecasting, Owls, tin can telephone record attempt, lots of hands-on make and take activities and much more. A full day of robot workshops is scheduled for Saturday 15th October as well as an afternoon of Climate Events when Tom Heap from BBC’s 39 Ways to Save the Planet will be in attendance. On Sunday 16th it is Family Fun Day at the Norman Lockyer Observatory (admission charge) with all things astronomical, telescopes, rocket launching, Planetarium

SSF 2022 programme 1Oct2022.xlsb_.pdf

Sidmouth Science Festival | Sidmouth Science Festival

Have fun!

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