Earlier this year, the Hamilton family from Birmingham got in touch with our CEO, Lesley, following a recent visit to Techniquest.
Their nine-year-old daughter, Kadii, had been so taken with the trip that when she discovered we were a charity, she decided she wanted to write a book that she could then sell, to raise money for us “so that other children can visit in the future”.
Naturally we were keen to meet Kadii and her family, so we invited them for a visit this summer to meet up with Lesley in our Sensory Garden and talk a little more about what inspired Kadii — and to share how she’s making progress on authoring her first book.
After meeting with Lesley, we managed to chat with her about a few more things: her background, her interests, what she loves about Techniquest and her motivations behind the book she’s in the midst of creating.
Here’s what we found out:
Q: What do you like most about Techniquest?
A: I like the Planetarium and the giant keyboard the most. I like looking at the constellations, like the leprechaun and the big and small bear.Q: Why did you decide you wanted to raise money for Techniquest?
A: I love the charity, I think it’s pretty cool. And I was thinking about my friends — none of them have visited, and it would be so sad if they didn’t visit Wales and Techniquest.Q: How did you find out it was a charity?
A: My Mummy told me! At first I didn’t believe her, I just thought it was a really cool attraction as it’s so big!Q: Tell us a bit about your book.
A: It’s about when I turned nine and visited Techniquest for my birthday. I wrote about all the really cool things I saw and what I learnt, to inspire other people to come too as they would enjoy it just as much as I did.Q: You must be inspired by someone, do you read a lot and who is your favourite author?
A: Roald Dahl.Q: Did you know he was born in Cardiff?
A: No, I didn’t know that!Q: Well you’ve learned something today! He rhymes a lot, doesn’t he?
A: Yes, like the part in George’s Marvellous Medicine when George reads a poem — I really like that part. I also made it (my book) rhyme because when I read it to my sister she thought it would be better that way, so I changed it to make it rhyme!Q: So what do you think you’d like to be when you’re older?
A: I think I’d like to be an artist.Q: Wow, an artist! You have so many talents with your writing, science and art — it sounds like you could do whatever you like! And what do you love most about science?
A: I like learning about molecules, and the Periodic Table and different elements.Q: Fantastic! In your book, you talked about travelling the world. Is this something you’d like to do one day?
A: Yes! I like trying different foods, and not everyone is lucky enough to have a Techniquest near them, so I had an idea to start a ‘travelling Techniquest’.Q: Great idea! You should speak to Lesley about that one! So, what do you think Techniquest could do better?
A: I think you are perfect the way you are!
We loved meeting Kadii and her hugely creative family — and we think they enjoyed themselves, too. Here are a few photos of them taking part in one of our bath bomb workshops in the KLA Lab: 🛁
We can’t wait to see the final copy of Kadii’s first book and look forward to hearing more about her love for Techniquest when it’s published!