Whoosh!

Well, what a day that turned out to be. I was originally told not to expect too many - end of the last day, people keen to get home - and as we drove to Wigtown through torrential rain I was wondering if anyone would turn up - and if a part outdoors session was such a good idea.

I arrived to the rather disconcerting news that the session was fully booked at fifty children plus their parents, and to the very good news of steadily improving weather. By 4pm we had brilliant sunshine, blue skies and even something that might have been called "warmth". In Scotland? In October?

After a great introduction (thanks, young Oscar) we got straight down to business. How nice it was to see almost every child's hand go up when I asked "Do you like science? - but how sadly predictable that all but a very few hands went straight down when I asked "Do you like science lessons at school?" What are we doing to children? How on earth, why on earth, do we start with all that enthusiasm, passion and natural curiosity and produce a school subject which the overwhelming majority of children say they Just Don't Like? Does anybody think this is a good idea.

Back to the session. Time for our first experiment, and soon a host of film containers were rocketing up to the tent roof, propelled by Alka-Seltzer tablets and however much water the young scientists though was a good idea.

That said, we talked more about what science is (a way of doing things) and what it isn't (stuff - take note, schools) and moved on to the days big experiment, with water rockets. Groups of three took their choice of plastic bottle and had half an hour to convert it into a really impressive, astronautical looking missile. Add a tail unit, fins, water (how much water? that's the science!) and a bike pump and half an hour later the garden was in a state of pandemonium. Ten launching kits were in near constant use, giving a launch roughly ever six seconds or so.

It was really great to see how much science was being done. The children were constantly experimenting with the amount of water and with their rocket designs, going for the most spectacular flights. Who says science has to be dull?

Many thanks to Daphne Chang, all the Wigtown festival staff and, of course, to the young - and not so young - rocketeers.