News Archive 2005:
To view the News Archive 2006
Part 1 click
here.
To
view the News Archive 2006
Part 2 click here.
£500,000 Boost for Brunel 200 South West
Projects
This year's 200th anniversary celebrations commemorating
the birth of engineer and architect Isambard Kingdom Brunel have been
given a half million pound boost with a major award from the Heritage
Lottery Fund. The £528,000 award is for a spread of events across
the South West. The region-wide projects will integrate with the programme
developed for Bristol by the city's Brunel 200 initiative, which will
now lead celebrations across the region. HLF will fund more than 20 individual
projects in towns, historic sites, schools and communities throughout
the region, from Swindon in the east to Porthcurno in the far west.
See press release for details. A list of all the projects, including quotes
from media spokespeople, can be downloaded here.
Network Rail Engineers Links with Brunel
200
Network Rail has announced its commitment to support
the Brunel 200 celebrations in 2006. See press release for details.
Cheers! Brunel 200 Beer Lauched
The official Brunel 200 beer created by the award-winning
Butcombe Brewery, leading independent brewers in the West of England,
has been launched as part of Brunel 200. See press release for details.
Photo shows James Taljaard of Arts & Business South West and James
Durie of Business West toasting Brunel with Butcombe Brewery beer.
Save Brunel's Cigar
Brunel 200 has condemned the decision by a children's
publisher to remove the cigar from Robert Howlett's photograph of
Brunel standing before the launch chains of the Great Eastern. Previous
attempts of censoring the cigar for fear it might cause offence are noted
in the Brunel comic, a graphic biography of Brunel’s life and work,
to be published in March 2006by Brunel 200 with a print run of 100,000.
See the press release in the adjacent column for details. Read a page
from the comic here.
The Nine Lives of I K Brunel
The ss Great Britain Trust has given the go ahead for
the refit of the Maritime Heritage Centre beside the ss Great Britain
to provide bespoke exhibition space that will be used for The Nine Lives
of I K Brunel, a major exhibition which is expected to attract national
interest as part of the Brunel 200 proramme. The exhibition’s title
relates to Brunel’s many brushes with death as well as his many
financial and engineering successes and failures. See press release for
further details.
A Brunel Christmas to One and All
Brunel 200 has launched its Christmas message
and card. Prepared by artist Simon Gurr, who is currently completing
the Brunel comic – a 100 page graphic biography of the life and
work of Brunel – the card depicts Brunel as a snowman,
with the Clifton Suspension Bridge in the background, and the classic
cigar replaced by a carrot. The message inside says:
Peace on Earth. Goodwill to all People
Like Brunel: demand the impossible in 2006
See press release for further details.
Bridge
Competition Launched
The University of Bristol and New Civil Engineer magazine
have launched a competition to design an innovative crossing to span the
Avon Gorge using technologies, materials and methods of the modern-day
and those anticipated over the next 50 years. The Clifton Crossing Competition,
which is endorsed by the Royal Academy of Engineering, imagines that the
Clifton Suspension Bridge had not been built. Professional engineers,
engineering students and school pupils of all ages are challenged to bridge
the gap.
Full brief and entry details available from 12 January 2006 on this website.
Closing date for entries 9 April 2006. Prizes awarded July 2006. To register
your interest now, email melanie@brunel200.com.
See press release for further details.
|