Christmas Wishes

On behalf of the Chair, Committee and Members of the North Staffordshire Local Section, we would like to wish you a happy Christmas and to offer you our best wishes to you for a healthy and prosperous New Year.

After many years of sterling service as the RSC benevolent Fund representative for North Staffordshire Dr Peter Borrell has decided to retire.  Peter Calder is in the process of taking over from him and  should be up and running in the new year. Peter has been associated with the RSC for over 40 years and has been on the local section committee for over 20 years. He worked in education, teaching at Leek High School and Newcastle Under Lyme school before retiring 3 years ago.

Local Section Activities

The local section continues to support a variety of activities in the field of chemical education, including schools workshops involving practical work, and an annual Top of the Bench competition. We support several prizes for chemistry students and some visiting lectures at Keele, and also have links with the Keele Sustainability Hub. 

Communication with members

The local secretary (Katherine Haxton, nstaffchem@gmail.com) would be keen to hear from retired members and in particular those who are willing to contribute to the running of the local section. In order to facilitate such an approach and to minimise the cost of postage all direct correspondence with members will now be done by email. If you would like to stay in touch with the local section could you please let us know your email address. The Annual General Meeting next year will be held in April, at Keele University. It is hoped that you can attend.

Lunch for Retired Members

A further enjoyable lunch for retired members was held at the Upper House Hotel in Barlaston, which nearly thirty members with their spouses enjoyed on a lovely spring day in March. Thanks to the generosity of the local section, we shall hold another lunch on in the Spring of 2015 to which retirees will be invited on a first to reply basis. Details will be announced shortly.

The RSC Benevolent Fund

Happily, few members in our section need recourse to the RSC Benevolent Fund, but the services are available to all members, to their spouses, and to former members who left the Society in good standing. The Fund Officers at the RSC in Cambridge are happy to try to help members and spouses who may find themselves in unexpected difficulties whether through unemployment, ill health or bereavement. The usual first contact is with the RSC Benevolent Fund Office (01223 432 227; http://www.rsc.org/Membership/Benefits/BenFund/). My own role is to act, when needed, as a link between the RSC Office and members; I would be happy to field any preliminary enquiries from local members.

With very best wishes

 Sue Blake (Chair), Katherine Haxton (Local Secretary)
            and the Committee of the North Staffordshire Local Section

"Top of the Bench" Regional Heat

RSC “Top of the Bench” competition for KS3 and KS4 students

The North Staffordshire Local Section Committee of the Royal Society of Chemistry will again this year be hosting a regional heat for the RSC “Top of the Bench” competition aimed at KS3 and KS4 students. The competition is designed to encourage and reward high achievement and is an excellent opportunity to showcase talent in the local area. The winners of the regional heat will progress to the National Final to be held in Loughborough on Saturday 25th April 2015.  For further details please see the attached flyer.

How do I enter?

Each team should be made up of the following:

·         2 students from year 9

·         1 student from year 10

·         1 student from year 11

Team members must be in these school years for the heats and the National Final.  In order to widen participation we ask that only students that have not taken part in the competition previously are nominated.  

To enter a team (or teams) of students please contact me by email [sue "at" sunnycroft "dot" plus "dot" com] to receive a question pack.  The question pack should be completed and returned by 1^st December, giving your participants plenty of time to complete the questions.  Successful teams will be invited to the regional final to be held on Saturday January 24^th 2015 at Keele University.

If you have any questions, please feel free to get in touch.

Mrs Sue Blake

Chair, RSC North Staffordshire Local Section Committee

Top of the Bench Competition 2013/14

The North Staffordshire Regional final of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Top of the Bench competition for high school students took place at Keele University on Saturday 18th of January. The first round was a tough written challenge devised by members of the RSC local section and resulted in eight schools being invited to Keele University for the regional final. Eight teams from six schools completed a written test on the chemistry of space, followed by a laboratory challenge to produce a rainbow in a test tube using only sugar, water and food dye.

Hard at work in the laboratory

The competition featured on BBC Radio Stoke on Saturday morning and the participants managed a loud cheer for the radio, despite being in the final ten minutes of the laboratory challenge. One team from Adams’ Grammar School came first with an excellent performance in both challenges, closely followed by Denstone College and St. Peter’s Academy.

The winning team with the Local Section Trophy

A special mention should also go to the team from St Peter’s Academy, Stoke as they were the only team to successfully complete the practical challenge of producing a fully coloured, correctly ordered density rainbow in a test tube. Judges from Keele and the RSC were very impressed with the level of enthusiasm and determination shown by all teams. The winners will go compete against 35 other teams in the national final in April at Loughborough University. of January.