Profile

I’m keen on the outdoors – climbing mountains, camping and exploring.  But that takes a while when you live in the city so during the week I tend to cycle a bit and do the local parkrun on Saturday mornings.  I live in Gateshead which is basically Newcastle but south of the river Tyne (shhh don’t tell the locals).

As an engineer I know that climate change is already changing not just the world’s living conditions but also how I use energy.  I try to consider energy use in my choices, for instance we’re insulating our house and my husband is mad keen on bikes and cycles to work everyday (he looks after railway bridges for a living).  I’m a bit less keen so normally drive, but take public transport about once a week.

People are often surprised when they learn I’ve been deaf all my life – as with hearing aids its not that noticeable.  It did mean that I never really got into music but I’m an avid listener to Radio4 when I’m on my own.

Engineers often design stuff or make sure its built properly.  My work comes next, keeping stuff which is doing its job working well.  Maintenance is often seen as not as exciting – you’re not in control of how something works or making it beautiful, but its really important to look after our customers and keep the great machines that turn wind in to electricity working as efficiently as possible for as long as possible as that means we can all have greener power cheaper.

I look after the blades of wind turbines, the part which catch the wind and start the process of capturing the energy.  They are humungous fibreglass canoes, gracefully shaped for the best aerodynamics.  My first priority with any damage is making sure that the blade is fit to keep turning.  The tips of the blades can reach 185 miles per hour, that’s around the speed of a aircraft on take-off so I need to be sure that its still strong enough to operate.

Get in about 8:15 have a chat with my workmate who has the same job as me. Drink a lot of cups of tea. Research and write a technical report. Look at pictures of blades and decide how to keep it in the best condition for the next few years. Have a meeting after lunch with people who do the same job in Hamburg (Germany) and Orlando (USA) to share interesting cases and learn from each other. Help teach a workmate how to use a computer model or system. Catch up on the work social network to find out what’s new on site or with our customers. Head home around 5:00.

A Headstart visit to Durham Uni convinced me that Engineering what I wanted to get in to.  I’d like to sponsor places for students who wouldn’t necessarily have this experience to get a good taster of what studying Engineering would be like.

http://www.etrust.org.uk/headstart-inspire-ris