Edinburgh Festival Cavalcade 2006

One of the main points of Chemical Connection is to raise the profile of Chemistry and to try and prove to people that Chemists aren`t boring and dull. As a result, we`re always on the lookout for new schemes to get Chemistry into places that you don`t usually find it. A great opportunity came up when, on the 6th August 2006, the Chemical Connection team (Robin Andrews and Paul Murray) teamed up with NESTA Dreamtime fellow Graeme Jones (from Keele University) and carried his big molecular models through the streets of Edinburgh as group 76 of the Edinburgh Festival Cavalcade. We had about 50 people in our group made up of students and staff from The University of Edinburgh Schools of Chemistry, Health in Social Science, Literatures Languages and Cultures, Engineering and Biological Sciences as well as a few random friends and family. We also had a fantastic team of our EaSTChem friends from the School of Chemistry at the University of St Andrews.

Everyone had a totally fantastic time and thankfully the weather held out long enough to stop us getting soaked. Included in the parade we had giant molecular models of iron citrate (iron in Irn Bru), Penicillin, Indigo (tartan dye), a bad fatty acid, an omega-3 fatty acid (good fatty acid), Buckminster Fullerene (molecular football) and many others. Robin managed to get lumbered with the Buckminster Fullerene while Paul was the problem solver who repaired the molecules as they dissociated en-route (Paul always gets the weird jobs)! He also danced round the molecules while handing out beads and tattoos to the crowd of over 100 000 people!

A big thank you need to go to all our friends (and family in some cases) who turned up to carry molecules. We`d have had an extremely hard time carrying them all ourselves so we`re eternally grateful to you all. Big thanks also have to to to Graeme and his friend Darren (Darren was "Molly Cool", our mascot) who came all the way from Keele in a big truck and worked a weekend to do this - thanks boys! Finally, a big thanks and pat on the back must go to Sigma Aldrich who sponsored us.

The photos from the day are below. Some of these were taken by our professional photographer Eammon McGoldrick and some by the people participating on the day


Darren builds	Salts taking shape

Where is everyone?	Doesn`t matter, look at Paul dance!

Molly Waits	Graeme prepares the Ethanol

Here they are!	Smile - you`ve got salt!

Red or white?	The sky looks worrying

But Dave doesn`t mind, he`s got beads!	The Heart Drug is ready

Carmen smiles	While everyone else tries carrying techniques

Isla in molecular jail	This is easy!

Don`t you love that hats?	Nearly time to parade

Sooz is ready

Let`s go!	Raise the salt!

C`mon Molly!	What do we want?

FUNKY SCIENCE!	The parade spreads

Molly Cool in Princes Street	Salma hides behind the banner

Sooz`s hair does not contain that molecule

Tatoos for you, and you...	This is how we carry molecules

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