A New Dimension

World famous inventor of the wind-up radio, Trevor Bayliss, yesterday opened a visionary Centre for Product Design at Wakefield College’s Whitwood Campus, which will benefit students of all ages and abilities throughout the area.

The Centre houses a rapid prototyping machine, CAD/CAM facilities, flat screen monitors and high spec PCs for the curriculum delivery of design, manufacture and engineering. Students will gain advanced skills and competencies and will be able to see their product design concepts ‘printed’ in three dimensions.

Trevor Bayliss and a student getting to grips with one of the high spec PCs Product Design Centre Opening

The Centre is the result of a unique project devised by the Wakefield Education Action Zone, which began to take shape two years ago, when the idea of purchasing high tech equipment was floated.

Ivan Pegg, Project Director for Wakefield EAZ, said, “No one school could afford or justify the outlay needed and it also became clear that access to quality, state of the art equipment was needed for a group of schools in the area, rather than just one.

“The EAZ and Wakefield’s three SRB Parnerships were the main funders of the Project, with contributions from the LEA, and the College adding a dedicated room and a teaching and technical support. Teachers and lecturers worked together to design a centre which would provide a flexible, fully equipped design studio to accommodate students of all ages.

“It has been a pleasure to work with the partners involved to develop this Centre, which will help schools deliver courses that would otherwise have been beyond their individual means. The Centre will also support local business and will enable adults to be retrained in the newer technologies.”

Brian Hamilton, lecturer at the College, said, “This gives us a fantastic opportunity to develop the 14-19 curriculum and address the skills needs of the 21st century. It is anticipated that it will also increase the numbers of students going into further and higher education.

Opening the Centre, Trevor Bayliss encouraged students to be proud of being an inventor and remembered when he first attempted to register and patent the revolutionary clockwork radio. “I heard the woman in the office telling her boss ‘there is a silly little man with a clockwork thing to see you.’ I was sent away with a cock and bull story, and all the way back home all I could think was that I was a silly little man. Sell your ideas and have confidence in what you are doing.

“I have a shed in my garden which is a graveyard for domestic appliances, where I mess about and there is enough junk for me to have a go at making the gizmos which are in my mind. Here, you have the modern equivalent of my shed, where you can mess about. You are the lucky ones. If you have an idea, do something about it.”

John McCleod, Corporate Director of Education and Cultural Services, said the Centre was impressive in that it housed and brought into the Authority the sort of industry standard equipment that young people need to know about as part of their preparation for whatever related career they go into. “We hope that they will be inspired by the experiences they have here.”

ENDS