Bomb disposal expert talks to Swindon students via live feed from United Nations

Swindon School students recently got a taste for a subject which is not usually on their timetable as they heard from a bomb disposal expert

A bomb disposal expert, who spoke to students via a live feed from outside the United Nations, was one of five speakers who left over 500 students at a Swindon school inspired after a day of special presentations organised by their peers. Duncan Young, TRITON and IED Lead with Optima Group UK, who specialise in mitigating explosive threats and are based in Swindon, was due to speak with Year 7 Pupils at Lawn Manor Academy on Tuesday 12 June about his work and to inspire young people about the possibilities of a career in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths). At the last minute, he was called to Geneva to attend a meeting at the UN, so spoke to students via video streaming service, Zoom. Duncan’s talk was one of four organised for Lawn Manor pupils by a group of Year 10 students from Lawn Manor Academy, who are part of the Villiers Park Fantastic Futures Programme. The line-up for the Inspiring People event included Samantha Tapfumaneyi, a reporter for the United Nations, James Carroll, Director of Swindon-based Evil Twin Artworks, Michael Hadgraft, a substance misuse worker for Uturn, andMark Mansi, a professional football coach. From his position outside the United Nations, Duncan talked the pupils through his impressive surroundings and shared his career so far, which has included twenty years in the British Army where he specialised as an Ammunition Technical Officer conducting bomb disposal duties and expert ammunition advice worldwide. He told the students that his best advice for solving problems is to: “Stop. Assess. Act. Stop and think about what you’re doing and your options, assess what is the best option for you and how your actions may impact others and act. Always act. The worst thing is to do nothing.”

The Fantastic Futures programme is jointly run between Villiers Park, a national social mobility charity, and Study Higher, the partnership of universities whose aim is to encourage more young people who would not traditionally go to university into higher education. Fantastic Futures is fully funded by NCOP (National Collaborative Outreach Programme), and sees students from Year 10 – 13 benefiting from residential courses, mentoring and INVOLVE projects, where students work together to organise an enrichment activity in their school. The Inspiring People event was organised by the group of twenty Year 10s who wanted to encourage their school peers to aim high, raise their aspirations and achieve more. Once their event ideas was created, they worked with Villiers Park staff to contact speakers, planned how to advertise their events within their school and prepared introductions for the speakers. One of the organisers, Suprim, said: “Our target audience was Year 7s as we wanted to help them decide what kind of choices they have to make when choosing their GCSEs or in life.” One Year 7 student, said: “I have learnt that you should always be confident and never give up when you are trying to accomplish your dreams.” Another said: “I’ve learnt to be yourself and never give up because everyone makes mistakes.” Caireen Young, Lead Professional in Student Progress Lawn Manor Academy, said: “We are delighted to be part of the Fantastic Futures project which is led by Villiers Park we are so proud of our Year 10 students at Lawn Manor Academy who have embraced this opportunity with dedication, commitment and enthusiasm to succeed."