Firstly I should introduce myself as you may be seeing a lot more blogs from me, I am Clare Maher, I’ve been at the school for over 6 years, initially working in Public Health with the fabulous ADAPT Team as part of ARISE, DRUM and Start4All, before moving in November to the External Relations Team to expand my knowledge and expertise.
Secondly you should know I use the word ‘so’ ………. A LOT and that I am brutally honest in my blogs, so if anything goes wrong in my work week, you’ll be likely to hear about it along with all the great and positive things that Comms and Public Engagement are doing as part of this year’s 125 anniversary.
So, see I wasn’t lying so now you know you can trust me, Saturday 11 March was not only our first event of the year but my first event as Comms and Public Engagement Officer.
We had several stands at the VGM (Victoria Gallery & Museum) as part of British Science Week, inviting families to come along and enjoy some fun crafts whilst learning about various aspects of science.
We had a great mix from the school, we had Vector Biologists on hand to show mosquitos through a microscope and we also had some live mosquitos, safely housed, to show to our visitors. We also had great representation from Meg Parkes who showcased her FEPOW (Far Eastern Prisoners of War) images, drawings, and stories.
My area of responsibility for the day was the craft table, it was laid out beautifully with lots of activities for all ages, we had colouring-in sheets, blank sheets for imaginations to run wild and draw their own bugs and a scientific wordsearch.
One special craft we had were small square pieces of calico fabric and fabric pens and we asked visitors to the table to draw their own bugs or tropical images, we are hoping to take some blank fabric to each event we host this year and to ask anyone attending to draw a representation of something from that event. At the end of the year, we hope to sew all the pieces together to make a rich and beautifully mixed tapestry representing all the events we have held this year.
The whole day from 11am to 3pm was constantly busy and I met some lovely, fascinating people, young and old. We had visitors on the day that had come with friends, grandparents, parents. I spoke to so many amazing people and it was so good to see adults wanting to take part and do their own artwork on the pieces of calico and, as you can see from the images above, we have some talented people in Liverpool.
I spoke to one lady who gave me a great tip and a short art lesson on how to draw the perfect tree (below), I may share that one in future but for now I think it's going to be my signature piece, Banksy watch out!
The event finished at 3pm and even as we were packing up we were still having visitors to the areas which was great to see, I did have to be strict though otherwise we might never have got home and as much as I loved being at the event, it was getting close to Saturday evening and a takeaway was calling!!
So, all in all I would say my first event as Public Engagement Officer was a success, and I was definitely engaged. I can’t wait to see what other people I meet when out and about at events and if you want to get involved by volunteering then please get in touch with either myself clare.maher@lstmed.ac.uk or Elli Wright elli.wright@lstmed.ac.uk.
Oh, and if all of the above doesn’t make you think you might want to volunteer then maybe the thought of the amazing pastries and muffins, we had for sustenance throughout the day can persuade you, after taking one home I think I’ve even managed to convince my daughter to come along next time!!
So, until next time, thanks for reading and take care.