Barnardos Caern House, 5th November

Powerpod Re-visits Gilmerton - Primary 1-4 this time! 31st October '07

The Powerpod (™ ;-) rolled into the Gilmerton Primary School playground to enlighten the
up-and-coming wind and solar engineers!
We set up the powerpod fully and had the wind turbine out; it was a very windy day so a lot of power was made.





Hectic day with primary 1-4 coming to do the solar panels and wind turbines.
The pupils were so amazed to see their own windmills spinning in the wind! - Angus Chalmers, Powerpod Peer Educator

Abbeyhill Primary, 30th October

Hertha, Morag, Joanne and Sara rolled into Abbeyhill's playground with the Powerpod, to a friendly welcome and a day of fun, games and renewable energy. As always, there were cries of "what is it?" "it must be a solar powered ice-cream van!" "ooh this is what our teacher talked about - it does stuff using the sun...".

Primary 4, 5, 6 and 7 got a chance to come along and learn about climate change, play the polar bear game and try out some renewable energy sources...

There were some outstanding wind engineers in the classes, designing some of the fastest wind turbine's we've seen! (and importantly, deciding where in the world to build them...)

All the classes also managed to make a 'solar circuit' and see the light from the sun turn a motor. Even when it was cloudy in the morning, the solar cells were generating electricity but we had to find a 'fake sun' (a torch charged up with renewable energy from the trailer) for the p4 class, when we were forced inside with the rain.



We saw how much energy is required to light just one lightbulb, by making our own power on the bike. And the answer (judging by the impressive effort and some of the coats that had to come off)- quite a lot!

All in all, a great day at Abbeyhill!

Carrickvale Youth Group, 24th October

Juniper Green Primary, 24th October

Roseburn Primary, 11th October

Flora Stevenson's Primary, 8th October

Wigtown Book Festival, 5th& 6th October

All 80 of Wigtown Primary School's pupils wandered along the road as a high visibility crocodile to pay a visit to the Powerpod at Wigtown Town Hall. In a crazy half hour - 40mins, the pupils crowded round the mini PV cells, hydrogen cars, wind turbines and tried to generate their own electricity on the bike, answering tough questions on renewable energy as they pedalled.
After school had finished, a few familiar faces dropped by to try things out again without the rush!

Saturday
We stayed outside the town hall on the Saturday, complementing the co-op's own 'green trailer', with a wind turbine and carbon caluculator. Early on, a group from Newton Stewart High School dropped by to help out, quickly learning how to deliver workshops to the younger visitors. Ami, Phyllis, Shannan and Caitlin also took on the role of media scouts for the day, interviewing Wigtown's residents and visitors and investigating the feelings and thoughts about renewable energy and climate change.

Post from the girls: "We had great fun today at the Powerpod. We have learnt lots of interesting facts about electricity. We had great fun making smoothies, teaching everyone else about it and interviewing people about what they know. It was an excellent day and we hope you come back to Wigtown. Thank you. Caitlin, Phyllis, Ami and Shannan"

Hairth festival, 14th-17th September

Last festival of the summer!
and a guid 'un at that: the Hairth, set in the rolling hills of Dumfries and Galloway at Knockengorroch farm, a festival with a mix of music from all around the world and filled with mud, smiles and crazy dancing.

The Longhouse and Wierdigan's cafe were in need of some powering... so in stepped (well, rolled)...The Powerpod! It was great for the power to be used to quite an extent.

Over in the workshop area, hydrogen cars and wind turbines were tested out. A mighty fine 'Climate Change Tree' was created, topped with a canopy of leaves, demonstrating all the actions the festival go-ers are going to take to combat climate change.

Edinburgh Book Festival - 28th August

The Schools Day for the Book Festival brought the Powerpod to Charlotte Square. The sun was out for a day of workshops and popcorn making, in between the groups visiting their favourite authors.

The morning was slow-going, due to the trailer being placed at the gate - in clear view when groups came in, but out of the main garden area where the groups were situated. After running round teachers, convincing them to bring their groups out to the gate we had a whirlwind of classes trying out the solar cells, racing the hydrogen cars and munching on solar popcorn.

The 'Polar Bear game', demonstrating one of the effects of climate change, was a big hit (and definitely provided an outlet for excess energy!)
Free icecreams, courtesy of the Book Festival, finished off the day well!

Say No to Nuclear - Peace Launch 11th August

The Powerpod was at the Scottish Covenant for Peace
Launch on Saturday 11 August at Wiston Lodge, nr Biggar.
Scotland's for peace is a new and broad based campaign
with a desire that Scotland should be known for its
contribution to international peace and international justice
rather than for waging war.

As well as the activities of the Powerpod the children's activities at the event were being organised by Woodcraft members Rachel, Chis and Jane from Portobello in Edinburgh.

Heavy rain throughout the day kept visitors to the Powerpod to the dedicated few. We found time to build the new solar car kits and try out the new powerful lamp on them - however the cars proved disappointing especially to the children who had spent most of the morning session putting them together. Of course it didn't help when it was found the motors had been wired up wrongly by the manufacturers. Hopefully they shall work better next time when there is some sun.

The Powerpod was the guest of the Edinburgh Peace and Justice Centre.

Traquair Fair! 4th and 5th August

"Traquair Fair goes Latin American!" was the theme, so we stuck to it and brought the sun down with us on the Saturday. Handy for the solar workshop... and a lot of youngsters and adults alike were transfixed by the solar-powered motor they managed to make. One group started plans for a comedy solar powered fan-hat, but were disappointed to hear they'd already been made.

Even many of the Fair's characters were introduced to the delights of renewable energy.
(Piccie: "I wish we were renewable...")


Sunday was a lot more drizzly, but the atmosphere was still buzzing with carnival music and parades. And even with the clouds, it was possible to demonstrate solar power working in Scotland (although at least 4 cells had to be connected in series for the motor to move...)

The power from the pod wasn't being used for anything apart from boiling a kettle for a few cups of tea, but the hot water was definitely appreciated on the Sunday.

(Picture 2: unfortunately the drizzle made Zoe shrink...)

Climate Change Camp at Keswick

Northern Region Camp 21st - 25th July

As guests of Stanley District Woodcraft Folk the Powerpod was to supply Village One at the Northern Regional camp with power and hot water. Due to the continuing wet summer the Powerpod got stuck in the camping field several times and it required the Farmer to apear with his tractor to pull the trailer into the correct position. The trailer was eventually fully set up by the Sunday evening and started producing the required power and hot water. The workshops on Monday were brought to an abrupt standstill by a heavy shower. However the pioneers from York and Hebden Bridge were able to come back on the Wednesday morning.

Throughout the time it was there the Powerpod was used extensively by the young people of the village for somewhere to hang out while thier phone was recharging or for that all important hair coiffure session before going visiting their friends in the other villages.

The venturers who attended the workshop on Tuesday afternoon enjoyed it but wanted to build and make more things especially using the power from the bike! We shall need to see what we can do.



Although the field was drier by the Wednesday afternoon the trailer still had to be pushed/pulled out of the field. We all arrived home safely on Wednesday evening with the trailer requiring a good clean and refitting session.

Powerpod goes to Sighthill - 21st July

After a lot of help from Martyn with van-driving and picking up the trailer, we made it to 'All Together in the Park' in Sighthill. There were heaps of circus rides, stalls selling things and people (with and without umbrellas). We were plopped in the middle of the field, which definitely had its advantages - everyone can see us - as well as its disadvantages - people only come across if they're really interested or we shout 'em over!

Harry Potter 7 came out today, so Morag kept taking well-timed breaks to sneak into the Pod for some reading... and Mel and Sara ended up joining her for a bit, running workshops from the hatch when the rain started going in the afternoon.
Twas cold! We were glad of the shelter of the Pod, demonstrating things by leaning out of the window worked pretty well.

A lot of the kids who came past seem to have studied renewable energy in school and knew heaps about the issues and the solutions etc - quite exciting!


By Mel and Morag, 'Pod Kids' extraordinaire...

Party for the Planet ! London, 7th July

C-change arrived at Clapham Common with arts, crafts, drama, music, food and games to encourage people to Think, Talk, Play , Go and Act on climate change.

A demonstration of potential solutions was an important aspect, so C-change were very keen to have the Powerpod down in London.

So... the pod set off on the Friday from Edinburgh and trundled down the M1, to arrive for a full day of workshops, demontsrations and charging of walky-talky batteries.

The day was a great success, ending with the final of the C-Change battle of the bands.

An incredibly exhausting journey, for a very worthwhile event.

West Lothian Schools Science, Enterprise and Health Showcase

The event at Oatridge College, Ecclesmachan on Wednesday 20th june featured every school in West Lothian, as well as Science shows, stalls and performances from various groups.
Crazy rain greeted us in the morning, so the Powerpod took a spot inside the building, rather than outside. This certainly resulted in more visitors, but a definite lack of wind and rain...
A lot of interested individuals and groups stayed for drop-in activities, a few coming back again and again for attempts to make the fastest wind turbine and show their friends the hydrogen cars. Even a cow tried her luck at generating power on the bike!

Big Tent Festival (and the Powerpod's little tent)

Friday brought crowds of schoolchildren from the Fife area, who dropped along to make solar-powered motors, wind turbines and to marvel at the trailer. All groups were keen to test their speed on the bike - attempting to pedal to create the power required for a lightbulb. Although very few were keen on the idea of pedalling continuously if they wanted a light in their classroom... Robyn, Lindsay, Lizzie, Catriona and Ron kept up a crazy pace when the sudden influxes of groups arrived, demonstrating the drop-in activities and taking tours round the trailer.

Even with an overcast day, the panels were charging up the trailer's batteries and were powering the laptop, fan and power tools for a building project next to the Powerpod. In the 4 days prior to the festival, an entire wood house had been built by Duncan Roberts and others from Reforesting Scotland using the power from the pod! (at the left of the piccie of Rosie and Mel)

A Ceilidh finished off the day (and spinning on the Strip the Willow may have finished off Lindsay...)

Saturday was an overcast and drizzly day, so the workshops were huddled into a marquee and 'fake suns' (ie lamps) were used to demonstrate the PV panels (let's pretend there's sunlight...)The number of visitors was therefore lower than expected, and there was a bit of a feeling that a few visitors had been dragged along unwillingly by parents... but Judith and Gill kept the enthusiasm up with those who did arrive and plenty of people trickled in and out by the end of the day. At least there was plenty time to sample delights from the rest of the festival.

The damp day cleared up after the workshops were packed up, for an evening of crazy music and dancing from la Boum! Music continued with folk songs and storytelling round a fire, back at our camp place at the Pillars of Hercules farm.

Sunday brought the sun (hurray!) along with Morag, Rosie, Melanie and Andrew, to join the Saturday trio of Judith, Gill and Emily. The blue skies definately drew more visitors - the solar, wind and hydrogen car activities were busy with children and adults dropping-in. The bike was again a major pull (especially when the battery became further discharged and it was a real challenge to get the ball up the tube...). In between demonstrating workshops and entertaining the visitors, there was a chance to check out the awesome Moishe's Bagel and Orkestra del Sol.

As well as powering the laptop and fans, the powerpod provided essential battery recharging for quite a few distressed camera-owners...

All in all a great fun weekend!

Woodcraft Annual Gathering

A beautiful weekend down in York for the Annual Gathering was the first trip out with the Powerpod for me, Sara. During the day, the mini solar panels and bike provided a distraction for those to whom the agenda of discussing motions wasn't so appealing... Even smoothies were blended up using the power from the trailer! The sunshine was appreciated by many (apart from my burnt nose), as well as fully charging the batteries during the day. The Powerpod was therefore able to provide lighting for the awesome 'Face your elephant' tent at night (picture), part to the Woodcraft C-change extravaganza. Additionally, power for the PA system for the evening entertainment (picture), allowed a lot of singing and dancing to get into full swing on the Saturday night.
The event marked the launch of the C-change tent and their eye-catching info leaflets, which will be available at future Powerpod events.

Bruntsfield Primary School Summer Fete

Edinburgh Woodcraft used the Powerpod for a little self-promotion at the Bruntsfield Primary School Fete on Saturday 2nd June. Although there are 3 groups meeting here (it was five only a couple of years ago) the organisation could do with a higher profile.

Placed in the corner next to the big red fire engine seemed to be a good location and although we did see a lot of pupils, the bulk of the attendees preferred to be down in the courtyards "beating the goalie" and eating the food. When the big red fire engine was called away to attend an emergency we were able to display our environmental snakes and ladders games which proved popular with the younger children. This has been proved to be an excellent activity put together by Liz Hall. Edinburgh Woodcraft wish her well on her five weeks global teacher expedition to Malawi. You can donate to the charity here.




As the fete was only on for three hours (and we did arrive a little late) the trailer was not fully displayed. The workshops on offer were the PV cells and wind, and of course the bike generator which was ably supervised by Bryn from the Siver Birch Pioneers - with the number of children sitting on this we need to get some means of measuring the power produced - it would be a good measure of how many people we interacted with!

At the end of the day there were several new names on the contact list and Edinburgh Woodcraft had, it was hoped made some impact with the families who came to see the Powerpod. We made enough noise anyway.

Many thanks to all the helpers Charles, Fiona, Liz, Ian, Bryn, and Sara.

Down in the Woods at Denny

The Powerpod and its crew were the guests of Forth Valley Scouts on Saturday 26th May - this was part of their centenary celebrations and the theme of the camp was Past, Present and Future. The boy scout movement was founded by Baden-Powell in 1907 and is therefore 100 years old this year so the scouting movement is doing a lot of celebrating. There were centenary camps all around the UK during this weekend, there is also going to be a big summer camp, or jamboree, in SE England where they expect 40000 scouts from all over the world to camp over 10 days. The Powerpod has been invited to this too, unfortunately it cannot go due to prior commitments.

The venue was the Forth Valley Scouts camp at BarWood nr. Denny, Stirlingshire, which proved to be a large piece of hill with a lot of mixed woodland - so much so it was very difficult to see where all 500 campers were camped!

By arriving on site about 9:30 am there should have been plenty of time to prepare the trailer and its activities but the pitch offered did not meet with one of the basic requirements of the trailer - some sunlight - we were surrounded by trees! Thankfully after a bit of searching a good site was identified next to the local amateur radio enthusiasts. The first lot of 15 cubs arrived for the 10:30 am session of "Energy Mix*", "Polar Melt**"and a round of the three workshops solar, wind and trailer. Two hours and 30 cubs later there was a break of an hour before the drop in workshop sessions started which included those used earlier plus the "Hydrogen" cars and the bike generator. We entertained and informed throughout the afternoon to about another 70 people including parents and leaders who took an interest in the activities. Finishing about 5pm we manged to get off-site by 5:30 and home an hour later - so another succesful outing for the Powerpod and its crew of Lindsey, Stella and Ruaridh!

Postscript
Disappointingly, the question of "Who are the Woodcraft Folk?" never arose. Is this because they knew who we were or were they just not interested? It looks like we must continue to improve selling ourselves and not rely on what the people may read or not read on the side of the trailer.

Games we play - this is a first try at naming the games - further suggestions for names - and games welcomed!

* Energy Mix. A cooperative game introducing the terms of renewable energy.

Participants each have a seat (a piece of camping mat) which they sit on in a largish circle. They are asked to name three renewable enrgies that they know of e.g. wind energy, solar energy, wave energy, hydro energy, biomass). The leader of the game, who is not sitting, calls one of the renewable energies and the sitting participants now need to quickly change places , the leader shall also try and sit down thus leaving a person without a seat. This person now needs to shout an energy to gain a seat. When "global warming" is called everyone must change.

**Polar Melt. From the DFs - A co-operative game introducing the concept of the Arctic ice melting and the hardships encountered by polar bears.

Due to global warming the ice cap at the Arctic Circle is melting and the participants are polar bears trying to swim between the ice floating on the sea. When global warming is called they all need to be on a piece of floating ice ( again a piece of camping mat) before they are caught by the leader of the game (represents the bears drowning due to being weak from having to swim so far between the bits of ice pack ) . The game continues with the number of ice floats being reduced until they are left with only one.

Big in Falkirk - a tale of 2 days

The Powerpod was invited by the local Co-op to be part of their Fair Trade Pavilion at the Big in Falkirk Festival on Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th May, a description from the Big in Falkirk website is given below.

"Big in Falkirk, Scotland's National Street Arts Festival is an award-winning, FREE weekend extravaganza and has become one of the largest cultural events in Scotland, attracting over 100,000 people. Located in Falkirk’s stunning 180-acre Callendar Park, the cutting-edge entertainment features a wide variety of spectacular outdoor theatre, pyrotechnic displays, art, comedy and big name music acts alongside activities for all ages."

Pictures of the event can be seen on the BBC site here - PICTURES

This was the first really big event that the Powerpod had to fit in with. On previous outings it had been a stand alone exhibit so this one would prove a good test for its ability to attract and hold the attention of passers-by. At the Science Festival - see previous message - people were expecting to be entertained and informed about science - this audience was expecting just to be entertained.

Squeezing the Powerpod between the pavilion and the climbing wall was another problem to overcome - and as the solar and PV panels had to face southwards this led to putting the trailer in a position which did not show it off to its best advantage.

Saturday proved to be a dry, sunny day and the crowds were out and any doubts to whether we could attract attention was soon gone as we demonstrated, or so it seemed, to "hundrets" of adults and children. Unfortunately there were only four of the Powerpod team present and this meant that there was no relaxation time in order to visit and enjoy the rest of the festival. By five o'clock the crew were glad to start tidying up and putting things away. Leaving the festival we met Alex Wilde a Woodcraft Folk leader from the Partickle Elfins in Glasgow who had been singing in a choir three times that day and so disappointingly was not able to come and see the Powerpod in action. There were also some visits from members of Edinburgh Woodcraft Folk.

Sunday was another "kettle of fish" with showers and strong gusts of wind forecast. The 3ft ground stakes in the Fair Trade pavilion had been ripped out twice overnight by the wind and security were not allowing any members of the public to enter the tent - so the demonstrators had nowhere to retreat with their activities during the frequent showers of rain. Water and electricity is not always a good mix but it did show that the small PV panels could generate electricity even during the heaviest shower! With only three adult members available and with limited amount of Powerpod experience it was proving difficult to provide the activities even during the dry periods so the decision was made to stop trying and pack up. The next couple of hours was spent trying to get permission for transport to come on site to take the trailer away - the trials and tribulations of a co-ordinator! The decision not to allow the public in the Fair Trade pavilion proved to be prescient as it eventually collapsed in the afternoon with heavy poles falling down and heavy pieces of polyester tent flapping around - there should be a photograph here just to show the danger but we were too busy trying to tidy up the mess!

Reflections on the weekend by those present would seem to suggest that the demonstrators need to have some sort of cover for their activities - although these are obviously best done outside but with Scottish weather being as it is there shall always be the possibility of rain. The original plans for the trailer contained a canopy but this proved at the time a step too far - so it was withdrawn - the problem of some sort of cover may have to be addressed again. We aslo need to look into our monitoring and evaluation systems - how many people did we actually speak to? what infromation did they go away with? - including our ability to "sell" to people the Woodcraft Folk.

The next official gig for the Powerpod and its crew is Forth Valley Scouts Centenary Camp nr. Denny on Saturday 26th May where we are being asked to entertain 600 cubs and scouts and their families - hopefully not all at the same time!

The Edinburgh International Science Festival features the Powerpod!

The Edinburgh International Science Festival was held over the 2 weeks spanning the Easter weekend and proved to be a busy time for the Powerpod crew. With drop in activities throughout the six days from the 7th to the 12 th April and running 2 workshops on both Easter Sunday and Easter Monday the facilitators had to rise to the occasion - This they all did with great confidence - for several of them this was their first real chance at doing the workshops to a very mixed audience.










This being Edinburgh in the school holidays the young people talked, demonstrated and played with over 3000 vistors from many parts of the UK and several overseas visitors. An Italian family were so pleased with what they saw they asked if there was a similar organisation in thier country - and having camped with the Aciragazzi in 2003 we were able to assure them that Italy too had a dynamic, progressive organisation with young people who wanted to make a difference.

As part of the "Science Festival at the Botanics" the Edinburgh Woodcraft Powerpod, a trailer fitted out as an education tool to demonstrate the use of renewable energy, was a major exhibit at the entrance to the Botanics Exhibition Hall. The full science program at the Botanics attracted in excess of 10000 visitors and many of these joined in the hands-on activities supplied by the Powerpod. As well as the drop in activities Edinburgh Woodcraft ran 4 workshop sessions offering co-operative games devised by the Venturers and DFs around the issues of climate change and renewable energy. As well as appearing in the main programme Edinburgh Woodcraft were named on the brochures as one of the sponsors of the event, publicity which we normally cannot afford.

The next official outing for the Powerpod is Big in Falkirk Scotland's National Steet Arts Festival on the 5th/6th May where we shall be helping the Central Scotland Area Committee of the Scottish Co-op in thier Fair Trade and Sustainability tent.