Moving into the Millennium

 In Special Features
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MECCANO TOYS LTD. PRESS RELEASE

The final of the Meccano design competition at The Science Museum

1 The story so far:

JAN 1999: 10,000 Primary schools were challenged to create the design for ‘a vehicle of the future’, by 2 April 1999.

APRIL 1999:

>2,500 Children aged between 7 and 9 years old, had entered the competition.
– Each child received a certificate for their participation.

MAY 1999:

6 regional groups were shortlisted to have their designs judged at the Science Museum. Each of the 6 regional winners designs have been made into large 3-D Meccano models by Meccano design team.
– Each group of children and their teachers have been invited to The Science Museum (all expenses paid trip), each child has received a certificate and a Meccano Set.
Each school will receive a Book Token for 250 Pounds on 15 June.

2 The Event:

15 JUNE 1999:

The six winning groups will see for the first time how their designs have been made into prototypes. The judges (including: Richard Macey – the managing director of Meccano and David Fogel – the head of the British Association of Toy Retailers) will judge the six winning entries.

– The winning school receives a Book Token for 1,000 Pounds. Each child receives a Book Token for 100 Pounds, a new Meccano Set and an invitation to come to Paris to compete in the European final (all expenses paid trip).

3 The Schools & their Designs

The names of the schools, pupils, teachers and the designs are attached.

Meccano – Moving-into the Millennium Competition:
Regional Winners – Schools, Name & Description of Designs

1 School: Greasby Junior School
Winning Region: North of England
Name of Vehicle: RES-Q
Description of Vehicle: An electric powered all-terrain rescue vehicle

2 School: Villiers Primary School
Winning Region: Midlands & East Anglia
Name of Vehicle: Aqila 2000
Description of Vehicle: A highly detailed recreation vehicle, powered by household rubbish

3 School: Cirencester Junior School
Winning Region: West & Wales
Name of Vehicle: The Fish Vehicle
Description of Vehicle: A vehicle that transports people under the sea and collects oil spillage

4 School: Holbrook Primary School
Winning Region: Southern Region
Name of Vehicle: Grip Master
Description of Vehicle: A solar charged vehicle that has front & rear wheel steering

5 School: Loretto Primary School
Winning Region: Scotland
Name of Vehicle: Air Boat 2000
Description of Vehicle: A ship that can launch small planes and boats

6 School: Holy Child Primary School
Winning Region: Ireland
Name of Vehicle: Dr Doom
Description of Vehicle: A wind powered vehicle that can travel over land and water.

Greasby Junior School win National Meccano Design competition

Over 2,500 Children entered The Meccano Moving into the Millennium Competition to design ‘the vehicles of the future’. At the final held this week in The Science Museum the design by six, nine year old, children from Greasby School in the Wirral, were judged to be The National Winners.

Each of the six children (3 boys & 3 girls) won a Meccano Set, 100 Pounds of book tokens, and an all-expenses paid trip to Paris to compete for the International title. The school received 1,000 Pounds worth of Book Tokens.

The Vehicle that they designed was called ‘RES-Q’, and is an electrically powered multi-task all terrain rescue vehicle. The technical drawings submitted by Greasby Junior School and the five other regional winners (List of regional winners enclosed), have been turned into Meccano Models by Meccano’s design team and were on display at The Science Museum.

Tim James Meccano’s Brand Manager stated: ‘The six schools who had each won in their respective region had done extremely well to get this far in the competition, having been shortlisted above more than 2,500 other 7 to 9 year olds entries.’

He added: ‘The judges had a very difficult time picking the winner however they felt that the features on the RES-Q vehicle, submitted by the six pupils from Greasby Junior School, who had previously won the regional competition for the North of England gave them the edge over the other designs. The features included very creative ideas that could very realistically be seen on future vehicles, such as – adding lights to wheels to increase side visibility of vehicles, to name but one.’

He concluded: ‘I think that the motor industry could learn a lot from the many design concepts that these 7, 8 & 9 year old have put forward, when designing the vehicles for the next Millennium.’

Geoff Wright of MW Models was one of the 5 judges at the UK national final.

The Fish Vehicle

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Aqila 2000

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Res-Q

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