Glyn young engineers seek funding for South African competition trip

Pupils at the Glyn School in Ewell are making an urgent plea for financial help after they were offered a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel to South Africa to represent the United Kingdom – in an international robot building competition.

Members of the school Computing Clubs recently competed in the National Finals of the First Lego League, a competition which uses Lego-based robots to complete real engineering tasks. They finished fourth out of 200 schools, and as a result of that showing, the Glyn students became the only British team invited to compete in the South African Open championship. Although they have secured backing from various sources, including local engineering firm Atkins, the funding they have offered only covers four pupils – out of the original team of 10.

“To have done so well and got this far is amazing,” said Computer Club organiser Jane Harding. “It’s wonderful that people want to assist us - we had generous help from Reading IT company CGI when we went to the national finals -  but the fact is we need significantly more financial help to take that next, huge step. As things stand, we can only take less than half the team who have worked so hard to reach this stage, which is absolutely agonising”.

To make things worse, the competition is at the beginning of May, so time is against them. “If there are any local technology businesses out there or well-wishers who can help in any way to give these incredibly hard working and talented students such a unique opportunity, we’d love to hear from you,” added Jane.

“They’re not just representing Glyn School – they’re representing the whole country – so any help you can give them is an investment in the future of British engineering. If you’re in any position to help us, please get in touch with the school. They’ve come so far – they just
need that bit of help so they can go even further, to South Africa”.

Anyone in a position to offer help can contact [email protected] or the school on 020 8716 4949.