Thornton pupils win design competition (From Blackpool Citizen)

Thornton pupils win design competition

2:40pm Wednesday 5th November 2008

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Children from a Thornton special school have won a design competition after devising a machine to take the effort out of stacking chairs.

The device named Charlie the Chair Stacker was designed by year five pupils at Great Arley School, on Holly Road, and has been chosen as the North West winner of the 2008 Cracking Ideas competition.

The pupils came up with a design which stacks chairs using pincers and magnets.

Charlie has a control panel which allows the owner to input chair spacing information and he can be controlled remotely.

He is even completely eco-friendly since he is solar powered and made from reclaimed materials.

Mr McSeveny, Great Arley’s headteacher, said the youngsters had put a huge effort into the competition: “The children worked so hard on the project and really enjoyed the whole process.

“I am really impressed with the initiative and how it managed to draw out the creative instinct in the children whilst still keeping a strong educational element to the process.”

The competition has been judged by the UK Intellectual Property Office which rated Charlie the Chair Stacker among the best inventions nationwide, and it will now battle it out with six other schools from around the country for the national title judged by Wallace and Gromit creator Nick Park.

Among Great Arley School’s prizes is a laptop, board games signed by Nick Park and a selection of DVDs and other goodies.

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