24 | Aycliffe Today Business
FINLEY’S
RAILWAY
CHILDREN
GET
CLOSE-UP
VIEW OF
HITACHI
FACTORY
Inquisitive primary school
children were given a tour
of the factory which is
fabricating steel for Hitachi
Rail Europe’s train-building
facility in County Durham
as part of a special project.
Thirty year 2 pupils from Heighington Primary,
the nearest school to Hitachi's £82m site on
Aycliffe Business Park, have been learning about
the history of trains and visited the Railway
Museum in Shildon before studying modern day
industry.
They were then given a tour around Newton
Aycliffe firm Finley Structures, which is currently
busy erecting 2,000 tonnes of steel for main
contractor Shepherd Construction on behalf of
Hitachi, and were told about the various jobs
and roles that exist within a major construction
company.
They rounded the trip off with a visit to the
Hitachi site, where the youngsters could see
real-life construction in action as steel and
cladding was being erected.
Heighington Primary School teacher Carly
Spence says the youngsters will now use the
experience to work on a design project back in
the classroom.
"The children have been working on their local
area and history that's pertinent to us, and of
course railways is huge in this area," she said.
"They've been finding out about George
Stephenson and the Rocket, how trains were
made and what kind of jobs there were back
then, and how difficult conditions people were
working in.
"We started to look at how rail production is
returning to the area and they'll have taken a
huge amount out of this visit.
"They've been able to link it back to history and
see how things have changed. They've also
been able to look at other things like estimation
and product design that they've never looked at
before.
"It's also really exciting for them to come to a
building site and to see what's going on.
"They'll write a report on their visit, linking it
to the work they've done on the history of the
railway, and they'll also look at the jobs that
people do in the modern day and see how they
can apply that in their next design project."
One of the youngsters visiting was eightyear-old Grace - daughter of Finley Structures
managing director Julie Finley - who later
revealed she'd prefer to work for Hitachi than
her Mum's company.
"I enjoyed going to Hitachi and seeing all the
cranes!" she said. "It was really interesting. We
found out that the factory my Mam is building
weighs 2,000 tonnes."
Another pupil, Alex, said he enjoyed visiting
the Finley site, adding: "I quite enjoyed looking
on the computers at how they keep the metal
together so it doesn't fall down.
"I liked seeing the big machines as well, they
picked up all the steel because it was too heavy
for the men to lift."
Eight-year-old Maddie added: "I enjoyed it at
Finley Structures and seeing all the stuff inside.
One of the jobs I think I'd like to do here is to
build it."
Staff at Finley Structures regularly welcome
school children and college students to their
premises as part of a commitment to increasing
the awareness of the construction industry in
the classroom.
Julie said: "We think it's important to bring
young people in like this for all sorts of reasons.
"We see a skills gap, and it's very hard to find
trained and qualified people these days and
we'll soon be losing experienced, time-served
people.
"It will take a while for our younger staff, and
Apprentices, to reach that level of ability and
expertise, so we feel it's important to let young
people see the world of construction at first
hand and what types of jobs that are available.
"One girl showed an interest in working on the
shop floor. But my daughter, Grace, says she
wants to work for Hitachi!"