Banner Chemicals have been based in the North East of England for over 10 years and we are working alongside government initiatives, to get more children interested in Sciences.
‘We know that not enough school children consider taking up Science at A-level and as an industry, we will face a real skills shortage if we don’t act now’ said Mottie Kessler, MD of Banner Chemicals.
Mottie won EY’s Entrepreneur of the Year for Manufacturing in the North of the UK and investing in the North of the UK has been a key priority for the 2M Group, of which Banner Chemicals is a subsidiary.
Jim Bell, Dispersions Development Manager and Specialty Chemicals expert at Banner Chemicals , a 2M Holdings Company, amazed and intrigued pupils with hands on experiments:
“I really enjoyed presenting to the groups of pupils as it reminded me of being at school, being interested in science and just not knowing about all the options available to me. They asked a lot of questions so it was great to spark their enthusiasm.”
In one of two experiment, pupils, wearing nitrile gloves, handled an iPhone which they had previously coated with a water-based optical brightener solution.
The ‘detectives’ could then show who had handled the box by illuminating their hands under a UV black light, demonstrating how UV light can show the presence of an invisible marker (anti-theft product).
Clare Hampson, Education Manager at the Catalyst Science Discovery Centre said:
“Jim delivered a fascinating interactive session. Pupils saw science in action outside the classroom and were inspired to think about how studying science could help them in their future careers.”