Stannah Celebrates 150 Years with Launch of the Joseph Stannah Foundation

Celebrating the company’s 150^th anniversary, Stannah has launched a new fund to support the promotion of engineering and related sciences as a career.  Named after the company’s Victorian founder, Joseph Stannah, the foundation will encourage an early interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM subjects), recognise excellence in young people in engineering-related areas and promote equality, diversity and inclusiveness in all matters relating to STEM.

In its inaugural year, the Joseph Stannah Foundation will become a sponsor of STEM Learning’s Project ENTHUSE, supporting the continuous professional development of teachers of STEM subjects across the UK.  The foundation is donating £20,000 over two years to support Project ENTHUSE partnerships in primary schools as well as STEM Insight placements for teachers in and around Andover where the business is headquartered.

Joseph Stannah was an outstanding engineer with a passion for improvement and development of both engineering ideas and the people who worked for him.  He was a firm supporter of apprenticeships (formerly known as indentures) and recognised that engineering education was about the wider benefit to society, as well as the immediate business needs.

In a letter to The Engineer in 1889, Joseph Stannah wrote: “It is undoubtedly the duty of every engineer to instruct his share of the rising generation, but it is also his duty to do it in such a way as shall conduce most to the general prosperity of the future.”

Reflecting Joseph’s talent and inspiration, the Joseph Stannah Foundation will promote STEM careers, following his belief that training, teaching and supporting the upcoming generations is one of the most important drivers of growth for world economies and for the Stannah business itself.

The Joseph Stannah Foundation funding will support two projects designed to bring STEM subjects to life for primary school teachers. ENTHUSE Partnerships are designed to support small groups of local schools with a two year action plan which provides resources, training and placements for teachers. STEM Insight offers teachers short placements with an industry or university to gain a better understanding of STEM careers and the needs of industry to encourage more young people to study STEM subjects. The Stannah business will also support the donation with the recruitment of a number of STEM ambassadors from their employees. These ambassadors will be trained to work with teachers and pupils to champion STEM subjects and help convey how they are applied in the workplace.

Jon Stannah, Stannah Group Managing Director, said: “We are delighted to be launching the Joseph Stannah Foundation, marking the 150^th anniversary of our family business. We wanted to create a more permanent reminder of Joseph’s talent, inspiration and innovation; we feel that this new foundation to further the discipline of engineering is a fitting tribute to him.

The foundation is an umbrella fund to bring together the STEM-linked sponsorship projects that we are already supporting in our local community and nationwide, including the Arkwright Scholarship and a number of local initiatives.  STEM Learning’s Project ENTHUSE is a great step forward and we are looking forward to adding more projects funded by the foundation in the future.”

Claire Arbery, Senior Regional Network Lead for STEM Learning, said: “STEM Learning is delighted to work with the Joseph Stannah Foundation to support the next generation of lift engineers and raise awareness of STEM and all its uses in modern society.”

If you would like to find out more about the Joseph Stannah Foundation or apply for funding, please visit the Joseph Stannah Foundation web page by clicking here.