building bridges sandi rhys jones
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EngineeringUK Away Day 14 January 2011. Building bridges Sandi Rhys Jones. Old Waterloo Bridge, opened in 1817. New Waterloo Bridge, opened in 1945. The Ladies Bridge. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Building bridgesSandi Rhys Jones
EngineeringUK Away Day 14 January 2011
New Waterloo Bridge, opened in 1945.
Old Waterloo Bridge, opened in 1817.
Waterloo Bridge was rebuilt during WWII by a labour force that was 70% women, a fact written out of official history but well enough known to Thames riverboat men that they still refer to it as The Ladies Bridge.
The Ladies Bridge
Bringing the past to life
The Association of Women in Property decided to use the story of The Ladies Bridge to give school students an insight not only into the considerable scale of this particular bridge building job but also life during World War 2, which they are studying as part of the National Curriculum.
Yesterday, today and tomorrow
So exactly 65 years after its official opening, a group of 62 school students visited Waterloo Bridge to hear how it was built and how things have changed today, listened to three women engineers talking about their work and learned about the variety of job opportunities in engineering and the built environment.
The people involved
62 girls and boys aged 11/12 from Lilian Baylis Technical School
Nine teaching staff
Head of Bridges at Westminster City Council
Project manager at Hyder/West One joint venture plus two colleagues
10 volunteers from Women in Property
3 women speakers and chair
The roadshow programme
At Waterloo Bridge, basic bridge design was explained with visuals and equipment
Students walked to the Imperial War Museum, refreshments followed by questionnaire
Intro, Ladies Bridge film, three women speakers
Question and answer session
Feedback questionnaire
Seeing it for real
Waterloo Bridge from the London Eye
Picture
Down to basics
Bicycle wheel illustration from Jane Wernick
Raising the Millennium Wheel
Picture from Jane Wernick presentation
Reaching for the sky
Two pictures of the Kew walkway from Jane Wernick presentation
The human element
Picture of the Kew walkway from Jane Wernick presentation
Probing questions
Do people believe you when you tell them what you do?
Do you have to weigh people and things to make sure a bridge is strong enough?
Did people get killed building Waterloo Bridge?
Did you really play a major role on the London Eye, or just a role?
What did you learn at university?
The 'heavenly' bridge
Picture of the Millau Bridge in mist
What problems did the builders face building Waterloo Bridge in WWII?
Bombing 69.0%
Labour shortage 17.7%
Technical 14.5%
Why do so few people know women helped build Waterloo Bridge?
Sexism 60%
Secrecy 21%
History 9.5%
No evidence 6.5%
Why do so few people know women helped build Waterloo Bridge?Sexism 60%
Secrecy 21%
History 9.5%
No evidence 6.5%
Do you think there are more or fewer women working in building today?
Fewer 66.0%
More 19.3%
Same 3.2%
Don't know 11.3%
Do you know anyone working in construction or engineering?
70% of girls said no, 15% said yes
64% of boys said no, 29% said yes
What was the most interesting part of the event?
The film 43.5% (48% girls, 45% boys)
The speakers 22% (26% girls, 19.3% boys)
The bridge 24% (29% girls, 29% boys)
Footnote
One girl and one boy enjoyed everything, two
boys liked the food best and two other boys didn't
enjoy anything.