More than 100 budding young female engineers from across the Midlands have been making a connection with a possible future career, taking part in E.ON UK's first ever Women Into Engineering education programme.

A group of 130 students aged between 14 and 16 took part in the project, spending a day either at Ratcliffe-on-Soar power station or the Learning and Skills Centre at Tipton, taking part in activities lead by women engineers already working at E.ON.

-- Advertisement --

The main aim is to attract more women into what has traditionally been seen as a male-dominated industry.

Workshops included sessions with overhead linespersons, cable jointers and fitters with an opportunity to take part in exercises to simulate real-life working situations, including scaling electricity poles.

Among the engineers from E.ON helping out and talking about their experiences was electrical engineer Alice Delahunty who earlier this year scooped the top accolade at the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Young Woman Engineer of the Year Awards.

Miss Delahunty said: "Engineering has traditionally been seen as a male-orientated profession but with this scheme we're aiming to change all that.

"It was amazing to see how keen these girls were. It's not so long ago now that I was at the beginning of my career and I hope they go on to find it as rewarding as I have."

(CD/JM)