Peterborough is a somewhat strange place. It seemingly existing in the middle of a triangular vacuum created by Cambridge to the south, Norwich to the east, and Leicester to the west. A cathedral city home to historic discoveries like those at Flag Fen, it’s mostly known for having an effective ‘Parkway’ dual carriage ring road and massive warehouses for the likes of Ikea to get easy access down the A1M.
And despite the rich history of the area, it’s too easy to be blinded by the new town developments of the 1960s and 1970s which saw tonnes of concrete poured into the centre of Peterborough, and large housing developments around the outside.
Which is a lengthy way of explaining why so many good things about the city are largely unknown unless you live there. In addition to some good pubs and restaurants, there’s lots of outdoor space and sport. And over the past few years, there has been big investment and growth in technology.
Peterborough STEM Festival 2016
And having lived in Peterborough until recently, that’s why it’s so cool to see a STEM Festival launching in the city on October 1st, 2016.
If you haven’t heard the term STEM before, it stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. And the day is a free family-friendly event to encourage more children into following those subjects – particularly girls who are generally under-represented.
The day has been entirely organised by volunteers who largely come from the monthly Digital People in Peterborough meetup group (disclosure: I co-founded it several years ago, and then let better people actually run it while I moved 120 miles away).
And blimey, does it look interesting! If you, your friends, or family are a tiny bit geeky. Workshops include playing with Raspberry Pi and MakeyMakey boards (including making your own arcade game), speakers include physicists, mathematicians explaining game theory and more, and there are other exhibitors and demonstrations including robots etc.
So basically it’s a chance to embrace your inner geek in a free and friendly environment. You do need to register for the free tickets in advance so the volunteer team can manage numbers etc, and you’ll also need to book up for some of the workshops as they’ll probably be pretty popular…
But if you’re anywhere in the vicinity, then check out the Peterborough STEM Festival website and make some plans.
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