Meccano in West Africa
by Bruce Neilson.
Pictures by A and G Torrie
Recently Don Blakeborough and I visited Arthur and Gabrielle Torrie who had a Meccano story which we wanted to record for posterity. The conversation also revealed that Meccano Ltd did have compassion for deserving causes
Arthur had used Meccano as a boy when he inherited a nickel set from his uncle in the late 1920s. Eventually in 1956, he was seconded from New Zealand to the United Nations Scientific division and with family was sent to Sierra Leone in West Africa as an education consultant. With money in the budget and the end of the financial year rapidly approaching, Arthur bought every science orientated book in the country for the schools and also all the available Meccano sets. At this time the native inhabitants of Sierra Leone were moving from a organic subsistence existence and being exposed to metal utilisation by way of bridges, cranes, trucks, etc. The Meccano sets formed the means to set up clubs at various schools for after hours activities. The clubs took the children from Meccano models in manuals through to self design modelling.
Meccano was introduced to the teachers training college at Njala. The use of the clubs was extended into history, art, language, ecology, science, etc and moved from an after hours school activity into the main school day as an improved way of learning. There was even an on–air radio station with the transmission gear scrounged and assembled. One of the success stories came from a former student who wrote to Arthur in 1962 from Glasgow University where he had been awarded a degree in electrical engineering and was a qualified pilot.
There was also the story of a letter from the college in 1959 being sent to Meccano Ltd telling them of the success the Meccano was having and in return came back Sets 8, 9, and 10 as a gift to help with education. Meccano did have a heart!
The Torries returned to New Zealand in 1960 before being posted to other parts of the developing world. They have published books on their experiences so check your local library.
The two pictures show students at a Meccano Club session working on their models.
