Enrichment Evenings

Evenings of Enrichment

As the academic year draws to a close, so too does another year of Arts and Sciences Enrichment Evenings. This monthly series of events running from September to May is organised by the coordinators for academic enrichment, Mrs Hone (Arts) and Mr Ickringill (Sciences) and provides evening talks on a variety of subjects from a range of external speakers. These are free and open to members of the public as well as Bolton School pupils, staff and families.

“Over the course of the year I have attended nearly all of the lectures which school has kindly organised. In particular I enjoyed a talk by Dr Suzie Imber, a very inspiring woman who was part of the series ‘Astronauts: Do You Have What It Takes?’ She described her journey of becoming a scientist and pursuing her interest in the physics of the universe. I look forward to the new lectures for the upcoming year, and recommend that all parents and children attend if they have an interest in the Arts or the Sciences.

The Enrichment Evenings this year have featured former MP John Pugh, civil engineer Isobel Garner, a performance of Antigone by the Actors of Dionysus, meteorologist and weather presenter Tomasz Schafernaker, philosopher and theologian Dr Peter Vardy, classicist Dr Michael Scott, and Jeff Ralph giving The Royal Society of Statistics William Guy Lecture. The last of the Science events was a talk from Dr Suzie Imber, Associate Professor in Space Physics at the University of Leicester and winner of the BBC television series ‘Astronauts: Do You Have What it Takes?’ Her whirlwind overview of her life so far was both inspirational and lifeaffirming, illustrating her positive approach and refusal to be put off by initial failure. She talked about the chain of events leading up to the opportunity to appear in ‘Astronauts’, her experiences on the show and the amazing people she met. She also discussed her passion for highaltitude mountaineering and her work on space weather. As far as Arts events are concerned, the Poetry Festival drew the academic year to a close with Girls’ Division pupils reading their own work, followed by readings and an interesting address from acclaimed poet Simon Armitage. In addition to a wide selection of readings spanning his entire career, he recalled the background of each piece, thus offering further insight into the poem. He also gave advice to budding writers, which was “to read” and to write about the universal through the particular. The evening ended with a candid question and answer session.

Dr Suzie Imber Simon Armitage

Maimoona Ghanchi 10D

Meteorologist & Weather Presenter Tomasz Schafernaker Isobel Garner on Engineering the Building Blocks of Life ‘Sicily - An Island for Everyone’ with Dr Michael Scott