The ACP visits the Roman Town of Colchester

On 25 September the ACP Roadshow Presentation Team of Dr Michael Smith, Chris Marshall, Mike Stokes and Lee Mason – supported superbly by Ed Holroyd from Babcock International who are such an important and appreciated member of the ACP ‘family’ – visited Colchester, the first capital of Roman Britain known then as Camulodunum, which before the Roman conquest of Britain was known as Camulodunon, already a centre of power for Cunobelin – the Celtic king from 5 BC to AD 40 – otherwise known to Shakespeare as Cymbeline.

Adrian Jones, one of our ACP Trustees, joined us and answered questions on finance opportunities in the world of aerospace, and Jay Gearing and Neil Hepworth from Red7Productions filmed the day from unloading equipment at 0730 through set-up and testing, onto the presentation itself in the morning and then into the afternoon breakout sessions, also conducting interviews with a selection of staff and Sixth Form students, all of which will be included in our upcoming latest YouTube video, Behind the Scenes at the ACP.

All students took full advantage of our flight simulators and VR equipment, and were given the opportunity to ask in-depth technology and careers questions, and also experience VR design and 3D printing plus, as always throughout the day, ask questions of our Boston Dynamics’ robot, Spot, who is now augmented with AI and Voice.

The ACP’s host was Colchester County High School for Girls, a school within the Alpha Trust Group. On behalf of the ACP, Dr Smith would like to thank most warmly the school team led by Gillian Marshall – Executive Principle and CEO – Dr Suzanne Parrott, Sinéad Hughes, Phoebe Clark and all their colleagues, including the Head of IT who supported so well Dr Smith during the morning’s presentation, for their fantastic support and organisation that made the day progress so smoothly and successfully.

There was an audience of 187 students and 15 staff from five schools. To the staff we say a very grateful Thank You, and to the young people we wish them every success for their future education and subsequent careers. Now part of the ACP ‘family’, the Alpha Trust Group of Schools will receive a continuing and growing input of relevant information via our Network, website, social media and YouTube channel. The Presentation Team look forward to visiting CCHSG again in 2027; in the meantime, the associated video will be broadcast this coming October.