HOWARD RAILTON TO BECOME NEW CHAIRMAN OF TRUSTEES FOR SATRO

SATRO, the Guildford based education charity, is delighted to announce the appointment of Howard Railton as the new Chairman of Trustees

Dr Beccy Bowden CEO of SATRO has announced that Howard Railton has been appointed as the new SATRO Chairman of Trustees. In addition, Dr Bowden is delighted that the outgoing Chairman, James Dubois, will join Jon Tickle and Dr Matt Perkins of e2v as Patrons of SATRO.

Dr Beccy Bowden commented, ‘I am delighted that Howard has agreed to take on the role of SATRO Chairman as we enter our fourth decade of inspiring young people about their future careers.  I know that our cause is one he feels passionately about. I am also very pleased that James will remain an active supporter by joining our Patrons and taking the lead on our fundraising activities. The last few years have seen the need for inspirational programmes for young people grow and grow – whilst the funding climate has been tough for all small charities. Without the hard work, dedication and active support of our Trustees and Patrons we would not be able to continue to grow and develop and we are indebted to them for everything they do for us’.

In June 2014, Howard Railton retired as Director of Projects for Air Products’ Global Engineering Organisation, Europe. Whilst there he was providing Organisational Management, Safety and Leadership consultancy and worked with various organisations to promote a greater interest in education and jobs in science and engineering in the UK.  Howard graduated from Bristol University with an Honours Degree in Mechanical Engineering and he is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.  He is a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Scientific Instrument Makers who are devoted to promoting science and engineering in the City of London.

Mr Railton, Chairman of Trustees added “It is a great honour to be asked to take on this role.  James has done a fantastic job and I hope that I can continue the momentum he has created.  Enabling young people from all backgrounds to achieve their very best potential is a wonderful part of SATRO’s role.  Inspiring them with a passion for science, technology, engineering and mathematics is key to meeting a critical and worsening national skills shortage in those areas.”

Our new Patron, James Dubois initially worked with Beccy for three years as her Coach/Mentor during which time he helped her to shape the Board of Trustees to be fit to compete in a new world of Charity competitiveness. Beccy suggested that James might like to tackle the role of Chairman, which is a role he undertook with relish for three years. During that time, he oversaw SATRO’s biggest challenge - the survival of SATRO which had just lost all its central State funding (almost half total income).

Due to the generosity of various funders and the careful financial skills of the Trustee Board the financial deficit has steadily reduced. The published results for the year ended March 2015 showed a surplus which was a major achievement.

Over the period of James’ tenure, he has met many students who have had the benefit of being awakened and inspired by our staff and volunteers which confirm the vital work SATRO does.  James thanks all the staff and the Trustees for their many and varied contributions he believes that if we can give something back to the community then that is only as it should be.

James hopes to concentrate as a SATRO Patron on the role of liaising with major donors to keep them informed and in-touch, continuing to donate generously of their time and money whilst also spreading the word to their wider networks of additional potential financial supporters.

James is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, and qualified in 1968 with top insolvency firm, Cork Gully.  In 2012, 40 years in public practice, he retired as Managing Partner of Body Dubois, a firm of Chartered Accountants specialising in different aspects of wealth creation, working mainly with owner-operated companies, professional partnerships and divisions of multi-nationals providing high levels of service on a personal basis.  He continues to work with the Firm as a Consultant.  He continues to serve as a Director or Consultant to various Companies and also some Pension Trustee Boards. Until 2011 he ran a Footdown Coaching/Mentoring Group for Chief Executives and Business Owners assisting them to improve their business and personal performance, involving Group mentoring issues as well as one-to-one personal coaching.  James has served as Chairman of Trustees since 2013 until 2015.  

Why there’s nothing better than a good physics demonstration! - Prof Neil Downie

Despite what many people think, science and engineering are often hugely creative endeavours – and a great way to draw out that creativity is to make and play with stuff.

Once you've redesigned or rebuilt something that already works, you become more confident in your abilities and start to get a real “feel” for stuff. You want to try new things and start to believe you can apply your theoretical knowledge too. That’s why novel projects, are so important.

Students can’t cheat by finding “the answer” on the Internet, in a textbook or from friends – and so are forced to think.  Teachers like these projects too as they encourage discussion and boost understanding. 

Take apart a photocopier, for example, and you’ll find lasers, sensors, scanners and steam-bubble ink-jet heads, as well as curious assemblies of mirrors and lenses, plus ingenious systems of rollers and catches to move paper around. And if the copier breaks down, perhaps you can actually fix it yourself. More likely, you can’t – but you can still have fun figuring out how it’s made and how it works!

- From an article written by Prof Neil Downie in Physics World magazine. 

Prof Neil Downie is head of the sensors group at Air Products, Basingstoke, Hampshire, UK and is a Royal Academy of Engineering visiting professor at the University of Surrey. 

Science, Engineering and Getting a Feel for Stuff: essential lessons for the nation - Prof Neil A Downie MA PhD

SATRO is privileged to work with nearly 1,000 volunteers from all areas of the working world, including many hundreds of scientists and engineers, one of our regular supporters has given us his views on what today’s candidates of all parties, should be thinking about, do tell us what you think...

The shortage of a thousand GPs in the next five years is a serious problem that has been well covered in the media.  What isn’t covered in the media is much, much more serious; it is a slow motion disaster, nearly a thousand times more serious than the shortage of doctors.  It is the million or more shortfall expected in scientists, professional engineers and technicians in the next five years.  

We need  a million people with a ‘feel for stuff’, people who have almost unconscious feel for the real physical world, a  feel for what will work and what won’t.  Recently, I interviewed 20 people for a job and rejected nearly all of them because they simply didn’t have that practical feel.  They had the qualifications, the personal qualities, and they wanted to do the job.  However, they wouldn’t have the confidence to design something that was new, that was a little different from what had gone before. 

Too many young people are missing out on getting hands-on with practical things related to science and engineering at an age when abilities are naturally absorbed.  Between the ages of 10 and 18, roughly, if someone has the chance to make things, to do practical tests and experiments, to see how things work by taking them apart, the chance to design something new and improved perhaps, then they will get that magical  ‘feel for stuff’.  This practical work will complement their academic studies.  If you use something you have learned, or learn about something you have used, then you will remember it.  And, what is more, remember it in a way that that means that you will never forget it, and in a way that you will be able to use it.

I tried out sending coded messages with a group of primary school children last week.  They learnt some great practical stuff about sending messages down wires and the hardware to do that (it involved calculators: what I call a ‘Calculator Communicator’).  Meanwhile a whole lesson in Maths, English and the alphabet was being sneaked past them as they wrote down and coded, transmitted and decoded messages.

So let’s have a campaign for parents, for teachers, for students: it is vital that they understand this issue and how it affects them.  Let’s have a campaign to train our primary teachers: no primary school should be left without a teacher with the ability to do practical science, to make things and show kids how to make things, to show them how things work.   And let’s have a campaign to put science and engineering firmly on the agenda  - and the curriculum - of all schools. 

We need to get our youngsters busy with saw and soldering iron, taking apart broken Hoovers and printers, and busy making things.  Those things may or not work well as hardware, but will in either case teach our children lessons essential for them and for the nation. 

- Prof Neil A Downie MA PhD

Why engage with schools? Corporate Social Responsibility - Lucy Miguda

Many companies use SATRO to help them meet their CSR targets by enabling them to engage with their local schools.  In the press we read constantly about employers concern about not being able to find the right kind of staff and students nowadays do not have the problem solving skills or ability to “think outside the box”.  Many of the programmes we run are designed to address these issues and more.  SATRO is an outstandingly effective educational charity which has been working with young people across the south east of England for 30 years and in that time has worked with over 450,000 young people.  We provide real-life experience of the working world particularly in Business, Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.

We inspire and enthuse young people about their future careers by giving them practical engagement opportunities with the working world throughout their time at school.  We offer bespoke packages to help you meet your CSR requirements for employee engagement:

·         Mentoring programmes

·         One day school events

·         High profile sponsorship opportunities

Last year, our business volunteers contributed 13,831 hours and 100% felt supported by SATRO and they would also volunteer again!  By partnering with SATRO you will be helping bridge the skills gap between education and business whilst engaging your employees.  We can help you:

Raise your community profile

Enhance employee skills

Increase job satisfaction

Attract the next generation of employees

Promote your brand through sponsorship

We provide meaningful data on the impact of your corporate community engagement.  We provide measurable outcomes to demonstrate the difference and impact your engagement has with young people in your area.  We provide rigorous training and DBS checks for volunteers.  We offer many inspiring programmes and we have an excellent record of working very successfully with large and small corporations: Allianz, Legal & General, Unum, Air Products, CISCO, ExxonMobil, Toyota (GB) Plc to name but a few.

Please contact Lucy Miguda, Business Development and Fundraising Manager lucy@satro.org.uk or 01483 688070 for further information