Thursday 5 November 2015

Manchester Science Festival continues...

...although I am beginning to feel that the end is nigh. It has been fabulous so far and I know it will be over soon. Too soon, love it! So today, Friday 30th October saw me at MOSI for the day.I spent part of the morning meeting and greeting visitors and then was asked if I would man (or is that woman in my case?!) the adult Ball Pool on the first floor. This is very popular and I had wanted to see it and have a play myself so I jumped at the chance.As it turned out, I was here for the rest of the day and it was ace :D I had fun talking to Alex, another volunteer who was womaning the till/tickets (You see what I did there?) I had to monitor the queue (maximum capacity of 30) and read out the safety guidelines to visitors and make sure they understood and signed the disclaimer. Alex and our festival director, the lovely Marieke, were really pleased with the job I was doing, getting people in to capacity for each session and keeping out the kids. It was thrilling to hear and even though it seems like this isn't much of a job, it all counts and I did really enjoy it. No photo's though.
On Saturday 31st October I did the 'science Spectacular' at Whitworth Hall in Manchester Museum, Oxford Road. This means I was there all day and having done this last year I knew what to expect. I have been looking forward to this very much since I found out I would be doing it. This was an extra day for me and the organisers remembered me from last year which was nice. It was largely the same as last year so I didn't take any photo's of it. Please see last years blog entry about this event for photo's. Sorry about that! Once again visitors were commenting on the beauty of the halls architecture particularly the ceiling. All tables of science were amazing, the turtles were back and as cute and tiny as ever. There was also Graphene, Nuclear energy, Engineers Without Borders, Cancer Research and Life Sciences from Manchester university with their Spirulina and blue smarties. New, to me at any rate was a table about diabetes and I had a good chat with 2 very nice ladies there as my other half now has it. So much fun for the kids, lots for them to do and they can collect a star after each activity and a full card will let them pick up a goodie at reception. I had expected to do some meet and greet at first and it looked that way.   There were science buskers outside and I was asked if I would like to do some busking. I jumped at the chance because I did this for my first 2 festivals and really miss not doing it. So I spent the morning outside Whitworth Hall and then outside Manchester Museum doing this and it made me feel nostalgic for previous festivals. I did straw oboes, balloon kebabs, Alka Seltzer rockets and rope handcuffs. I thought it was a shame there were no lava lamps and I have lost the knack of balloon kebabs but I wasn't the only one.  They proved to be the most popular.There was also the cartesian diver using a water bottle with a sachet of ketchup inside (never seen it done this way before). The busker doing this was such a fun guy and was telling people they could make the sachet move by focussing their mind LOL Computational Biologists eh? There also a volcano demo which was epic! This involved coca cola and Mentoes. I'm only sorry I never got photo's of any of this. After lunch in the new Alan Gilbert building cafe, I was able to take a look around both in the Museum and the upstairs events and ask if anyone needed any help. The museum is having a refurb including getting a new cafe which looks interesting. I had  a look at the current 'Gift for the gods: Animal mummies revealed'. This included being able to activate onscreen mummy scans and was a great exhibit to see. A very peaceful one to walk about alone if you so wish. Also a free drop in event. I really enjoyed all there was to see upstairs. I walked around and spoke to somebody on most tables. One which particularly caught my eye was one which wasn't there last year and was all about diabetes. My interest is in learning how to manage it as my partner was recently diagnosed with type II. The first lady I spoke to was a lovely mexican who has diabetes in her family and I could've  talked and listened to her all day but didn't want to monopolise her. I had told her my plans regarding what I wish to do and she said she loves it when people do things for other's/charity work and said some people are passionate about it. I think I will remember that for a while. At the end of the table was another lady not talking to anybody and there was a poster about diabetes related kidney complications which caught my interest as Glynn only has one anyway. Overall it is common sense really and I only learned one thing. That is, if it gets bad, even type II's can end up taking insulin supplements. There was also a face painter here too. At the end, I hung around at the reception desk looking after everyones belongings whilst they took everything up the road to Suzanne's office and I took down feedback comments from the board. As I was leaving I was asked if I ahd recived my thank you card. I knew nothing about this, it was certainly a nice surprise! Suzanne ruffled though a box behind the desk and gave me a card and a small box of Lindt Lindor chocolates. This makes me smile all the way home with a warm heart. I did feel valued as a volunteer. So thats is it, the festival continued on Sunday 1st November but it is all over now for me. I had a fab time and look forward to next year. Take care!        

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