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Home Secretary praises Mettis Aerospace commitment
to the community
December 2007

As part of its ongoing dedication to the community in which it operates, Mettis Aerospace has supported one of its employees and a local school with the creation of an African inspired sculpture. Birchensale middle school in Redditch is twinned with a school in Africa and pupils developed the design of the sculpture to represent African grasses. The pupils worked closely with coppersmith Richard Taylor to bring the design to life. Richard created an artists impression from which Les Gardner a welder at Mettis Aerospace, worked to cut out the leaves and to create the right shapes from steel. Working in his own time using facilities and equipment at Mettis Aerospace, Les skilfully created the African grasses. “It was tricky working from such loose artistic drawings” said Les, “I am more used to dealing with detailed engineering drawings, but it was a real challenge and I thoroughly enjoyed thinking of ways to make the shapes and textures needed to really bring the sculpture to life.”

Les was also instrumental in arranging for the material to be donated to the school free of charge through his contacts at Worcestershire Steels Company. Les also liased with Lloyds British to arrange for the free of charge galvanising of the sculpture to ensure it is weather proof. All of which are testaments to the close working relationships Mettis Aerospace enjoys with its supply chain.

The sculpture was then finished by the children of Birchensale middle school using copper to make giant beetles and bugs to sit on the leaves of the grasses and to add copper seeds all imprinted with their own messages and names. The sculpture was so impressive that it was displayed at the Malvern Spring Garden Show 2007 held at the Three Counties Showground in Worcestershire in May. From there it was transported to the Cloisters at Worcester Cathedral where it was on display for several weeks. Proving its popularity the sculpture then went on to be displayed outside the education building at Worcester University. It finally arrived back at home in Redditch less than two weeks ago.

The icing on the cake for the school, pupils and all those involved in making the sculpture happen was the visit by Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to unveil the sculpture in its new home at Birchensale middle school. On Friday 7th December Jacqui visited the school and was welcomed by the tune of African drums and singing from pupils. After commenting on how welcome thoughts of Africa were on such a cold winters’ day Jacqui went on to cut the ribbon on the sculpture and to congratulate all those involved in the production of such an interesting and professional project. Ingrid Bridgewater, Head teacher at Birchensale middle school thanked all those who had contributed to the project and singled out Les for his skill and dedication to the project.

Nick Blakeney, Chief Operations Officer at Mettis Aerospace said, “We are pleased to be able to support our local community, especially in such a creative and exciting manner. I know that Les worked really hard at this project and we were happy to be able to accommodate the sculpture. Hopefully it has generated an interest in the capabilities that we have here on site and will encourage the pupils to think about manufacturing and engineering as a career choice in the years to come.”

Birchensale middle school is now busy planning its next project, one which Mettis Aerospace is looking forward to being involved in.

The image shows from left to right: Jacqui Smith – Home Secretary, Trish Chambers – Worcestershire Steels Company, Brian Turner – Lloyds British, Les Gardner – Welder and Derek Bond – Projects Manager.