The Great Historical Bridge Competition

Construct a model of the famous Iron Bridge (as in the picture below)

The first cast iron bridge. It's a bridge, and it's made of iron. Hence, Iron Bridge. Wonderous.

That, more or less, was my 13 year old sister’s history homework. So in the spirit of making bridges out of the latest and greatest of modern materials, her and her friend cast aside all forms of sense, and any appreciation of physics, and chose chocolate fingers as their building medium.

I took issue with this approach, and decided to see if I couldn’t do better using the traditional approach of cardboard, sticky tape, stainless steel wire, and pretend science. This is how it went.

Like a bull in a china shop, Emma rushes into an early, yet costly, lead

Meanwhile, I'm being so intelligent, I'm thinking in squares.

As well as chocolate, Emma's bridge is made of cardboard, and wishful thinking.

An insight into the mind of a genius. I also sometimes think about goldfish.

Ignorance is bliss.

The finished scale model, fully labelled and minutely detailed. A success for Timmington.

It's not about winning, it's about taking part. And hilarious failure.

I think I won that one.