Liebherr sponsors two-day ‘My Future My Choice’ event at Vertikal Days

At the recent Vertikal Days, Liebherr again sponsored a two-day event for the charity ‘My Future My Choice’, which aims to promote engineering to young people aged of 5-16 by giving them an insight into engineering as a career through participating in a practical project bringing schools and businesses together.

9 and 10 year old pupils from Allanson Street Primary School, St Helens, and pupils aged 14 -15 from Maghull High School, Liverpool, took part. Director of MFMC and Workshop Leader Hugh Thomas gave an introduction and demonstrated the principles of hydraulics and pulley systems before the young people were divided into teams. Working with a Liebherr-GB apprentice or staff member, they built a crane from a cardboard template using a system of air-filled syringes and pipes to simulate hydraulics and visited exhibition stands for research before a ‘Crane Off’ competition. Winners were the fastest to pick up a ball and drop it into a bucket and prizes were presented at the Liebherr stand where young people could also take the mic to talk about their experience.

Hugh Thomas said, “Liebherr apprentices and staff are passionate about making school children aware that mechanical engineering and lifting technology offers a rewarding career. They inspired 20 out of 30 14 and 15-year-olds to say they’d consider a Liebherr apprenticeship and would write for more information when they approach school leaving age. The transformation in the students from the start to the end of the day was wonderful to see.”

Ed Hudson, General Manager of crane After-Sales for Liebherr-GB, said that “again it was a pleasure to work with My Future My Choice at Vertikal Days. Our apprentices, interns and staff all appreciated and enjoyed the experience of promoting the industry to these young people and took away some excellent experiences from it. The project certainly triggered the imagination of a lot of the young people from the two schools who we hope will be talking to Liebherr about engineering careers in a few years’ time”