Student's Logo Will Identify New Foundation

One of Lincolnshire's most famous sons has been commemorated with a new logo - designed by a Tollbar student.

Louise Higham's entry into a competition run by the Longitude Harrison Foundation was selected from more than 500 from the north of the county to be the new image for the organisation promoting the mechanical genius who solved the longitude problem.

Louise, who is in Year 12 and includes Art in her International Baccalaureate studies, heard about the competition from Head of Art Mrs Robinson and was encouraged to enter as part of her coursework.

"I wanted to design a simple logo that would reflect something about John Harrison," she said. "First I had to find out more about him, then I looked at the physics of what he did and at photos. I came up with three images before I decided which one to enter."

"I have been told the logo will now be used by the Harrison Foundation on letterheads and other literature."

The competition was divided into three age groups with a category winner in each and many of the students whose designs were highly commended attended the presentation of certificates and prizes.

This was held in the conference centre at Tollbar in the presence of the High Sheriff of Lincolnshire Mr John Lockwood and Andrew King, the renowned world authority on John Harrison.

In the printed programme for the event was a message from the Astronomer Royal, Sir Arnold Wolfendale, who said of the Longitude Harrison Foundation: "It gives me great pleasure to be associated with this initiative, one that is important at every level, local, national and international."

The special guests, along with teaching staff, students and their families were welcomed by Tollbar Principal Mr Hampson who praised the prizewinners for their exceptional work in producing so many variations on a theme.

Andrew King demonstrated how important John Harrison's work has been over the past 200 years by taking his audience back to the days of Christopher Columbus and highlighting the guesswork that went on in navigation before Harrison's discoveries.

"It was to be another 250 years after Columbus before the problem was solved," he said. "It was easy to find your position north to south using the Pole Star and the horizon but not to calculate east to west."

"Using longitude, the globe is divided into 24 lines stretching from pole to pole. 360 degrees divided by 24 equals 15 degrees which is one hour of time so by knowing the time the ship left the last landfall and taking readings from the sun, it's possible to calculate position."

Mr King brought along a replica clock that is accurate to a second a month and explained the importance of the bi-metallic strip in regulating temperature, one of the most crucial aspects of accuracy in timepieces.

"Harrison discovered this use of the bi-metallic strip and he was also the first man to make roller bearings so his achievements have even greater relevance to the 21st century than they did in his own lifetime," Mr King concluded.

The High Sheriff then presented certificates and prizes to the winners, most of whom managed to attend despite the frosty conditions. In the Category 3 KS4 16+ section, Tollbar swept the board with 10 highly commended certificates and the overall winner.

Category winners came from Brigg Primary School, Healing School and Whitgift School. They, and Louise, received a voucher and books for their respective schools.