Education is one of our main aims, and the SVAS are proud to have funded and created the Discovery Workshop. Situated behind Hangar 3 this is a large room with multimedia facilities and furniture for conferences, meetings and activities. It is an ideal area for all kinds of educational, informative and social events. As the Discovery Workshop is located within the hangar complex, it is also ideally situated for holding events associated with Collection exhibits.
Hanging from the ceiling on a pulley system is a vintage glider. The gilder is a replica 1896 Pilcher Hawk, made for the Science Museum by the Scottish Aeronautical Society in 1924. Interestingly, the Royal Scottish Museum sent the original to the Collection for restoration in the 1950s.
Education Lead and SVAS volunteer Matthew Studdert-Kennedy spent six months building and installing a set of bifold doors for the Discovery Workshop. Annual leave, weekends and evenings have been dedicated to measuring, woodworking, painting and finishing the entire project, together with invaluable help from the C&S Heritage Team. Not only has the flood of natural light transformed the space, the extra fire exit they provide has doubled the capacity of the room. The work has also allowed visiting groups such as Girl Guides and Air Cadets to host sleepovers as part of their educational activities.
The Discovery Workshop also now has a vintage 1940s English Rose fitted kitchen. After WW2, Constant Speed Airscrews Ltd started making them as a way to utilise surplus machine tools and materials from their business making propeller spinners. The kitchen is aesthetically pleasing but also another piece of living history that contributes to making the Discovery Workshop a wonderful base for educational activities within the Shuttleworth site.
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