Students take to blacksmiths’ stage at Newbury Show

Our Year 12 and 13 A-level Product Design students attended Newbury Show on Saturday 21st September and took to the stage in the blacksmiths’ tent – a first for the display at the show to have school students taking part live on the blacksmiths stage. 

Students were invited by local blacksmith, Nick Peppitt, who provided students with the exciting opportunity to have a go at making a steel flower on a coke forge. Students took to the stage with a large crowd watching as they got to work with preparing, forming and finishing their handcrafted product. Students were carefully guided through the process by Nick and other professional blacksmiths, with students learning about working with metal and using a range of traditional hand craft techniques. 

The valuable opportunity allowed students to learn more about materials and manufacturing techniques, which will benefit course content for their A-level Product Design studies, as well as being able to develop new practical skills, which will benefit their own prototyping and making. All of the students also left with their own handcrafted piece which they were highly proud of and created a memorable experience, certainly inspiring the students to want to do more like this in future!