IGNITE! Funder in Focus: Cambridge & Counties Bank
- 10th Jan 2024
- Author: Elliott Langley - Marketing Administrator
For this Our Space, I wanted to put the spotlight on one of our amazing sponsors who support the IGNITE! programme. Cambridge & Counties Bank help us to inspire children and families in Leicester by being an IGNITE! sponsor, which means supporting local children in learning about STEM subjects through free accessible, inclusive and hands on activities.
Christian Cowie, Director of Marketing and Savings at Cambridge & Counties Bank, recently met with our Content team to talk about being a funding partner for the IGNITE! programme at the National Space Centre. CJ Bishop, our Community Engagement Manager, also spoke about what it has been like to work with Cambridge & Counties Bank and heading the IGNITE! programme.
IGNITE!
If you follow us on social media or have ever watched our content on YouTube, then you may have seen us talking about our IGNITE! Community programme. Launched back in 2019, IGNITE! supports areas in Leicester that have significant financial and educational barriers in place to access STEM content.
With the National Space Centre being an educational charity, it’s our mission to get people excited about space and help the next generation of scientists and engineers find their way into a STEM career. But as a charity, there are considerable challenges to reaching these goals, which is where our IGNITE! sponsorship programme comes in.
CJ: IGNITE! is a community-based provision where we connect the National Space Centre with the local community of Leicester. The IGNITE! Community programme allows children and young people to explore their passion and interests of space, or to explore something totally new. With Leicester now identifying as a Space City, we want to level up our young people and provide that pathway into academia and industry. IGNITE! is inclusive and accessible. We provide a school provision, holiday clubs, family career days, and we attend lots of local and citywide events as well, so that we engage the whole of Leicester on the space journey.
Supporting the IGNITE! programme
Christian: Cambridge & County Bank are a proud sponsor of the IGNITE! programme and the National Space Centre generally. There are so many ways that our two organisations synergise. We're both part of a thriving Leicester business community. We're both relatively large employers within the local community and we've both got links to education. The IGNITE! Community team are out there every day talking to young people and it's those conversations that hopefully inspire people to make a real positive impact.
Seeing the impact
Christian: Some of those young people are now transitioning to secondary school and they're still engaged in space and STEM, which is really, really important. Proving the impact we have is not always easy, but the way the National Space Centre and IGNITE! can show the difference that they make through community outreach and pathways, through education and back into employment is really, really inspiring.
What it was like to attend an After School session with the team
Christian: We had a fantastic session at Aylestone Leisure Centre with the National Space Centre and the IGNITE! programme learning about exoplanets, just generally getting involved and getting our hands dirty. Seeing the kids interacting with the VR headsets was amazing. Just the wonder it brought and the thoughts and questions that they had afterwards was really engaging.
Levelling Up
Christian: We are already so proud of funding the IGNITE! programme and seeing events like this. Seeing the kids enjoying themselves engage with space content. This really brings a sense of pride, and it makes us want to do more. We are so incredibly proud of the work we do, and we will be a long-term partner and supporter of the National Space Centre.
CJ: We’re so grateful that Cambridge & Counties Bank came on board as an early pioneer and supported the IGNITE! program and we would like to see more groups coming forward to support this initiative so that we can level up our communities and provide that space-based gateway for young people and help them develop that passion.
Huge thanks to Cambridge & Counties Bank for supporting the IGNITE! programme. Their sponsorship ensures that the IGNITE! Community team can run After School Clubs, Family Career Days, Co-Creation Projects and In-Person Space Cadets Clubs.
If you are interested in becoming a sponsor yourself then get in touch to find out how you can support us with an IGNITE! Package via [email protected]
