We have another great week lined up for you in our ninth Festival. See below for the full line-up or you can pick up a printed program from the Courthouse now.
Tickets are available now – have you got yours yet?
Click here for details of the Schools Events
Otley Science Festival is Supported by:
Monday 7 November 11.00 – 12.00 noon
Silly Science Toddler Time – Families 
Our sell out science special for under 5’s is back! Join us and let your child investigate with their senses and explore the scientific world around them. Laid on especially for the Courthouse by the Otley Children’s Centre, this is a very popular ticketed event with limited spaces, so please book early to avoid disappointment.
£3 per child, accompanying adults free.
For children aged 5 and under.
Monday 7 November 1.00pm – 2.00pm
Silly Science Toddler Time – Groups
A science fair specifically aimed at groups of under 5s from nurseries, play groups and childminders only. This is a ticketed event with limited spaces, so please book early to avoid disappointment.
£3 per child, accompanying adults free.
For children aged 5 and under.
Monday 7 November 7.30pm
The Science of Everyday Life with Marty Jopson
In this brilliant scientific tour of household science, BBC1 One Show scientist Dr Marty Jopson addresses conundrums such as: What really makes cakes rise? Why do soap bubbles burst? And how you get the quartz out of a clock using a hammer? The accompanying book serves as a guide to life with a dribblesome teapot cure, the solution to shocks from your car and why any of this matters at all. Answers will be provided, electrical devices dismantled and mess created in the name of science.
“That was amazing! I couldn’t believe my eyes!” Cheltenham Science Festival
£10/£8 For families and children aged 7 and upwards.
Tuesday 8 November 7.30pm
Festival Science Café
The perennial favourite of the Otley Science Festival returns once more to bring you a veritable cornucopia of science. Discover what happened when Otley school kids chatted with Astronaut Tim Peake, how to use nylon beads to wash greener and what the 100,000 Genomes Project will mean to Yorkshire. With each speaker given a quarter of an hour to talk there will be plenty of time afterwards for you to further grill them with questions and mingle over a drink.
£5, 18s and under free Adults and young people. Bar.
Wednesday 9 November 7.30pm
Prank Science with Steve Mould
Steve Mould is well known for pulling pranks on unsuspecting members of the public in BBC 1’s Britain’s Brightest. All in the name of science of course. In this show he’ll be sharing his secrets and showing you loads of ways you can prank your friends and annoy your family. Expect mind bending illusions, weird chemistry, explosions and a fart projector. Do try this at home!
£10/£8 Age 7 and upwards. Bar.
Friday 11 November 12.30 to 2pm
Science Lunch: A Life Spent Dyeing
Enjoy a delicious buffet lunch then sit back and listen to Prof David Lewis, from the Department of Colour Science at the University of Leeds, as he explains some of the chemistry of hair care and in particular the way we dye it. Enjoy a cup of tea, or coffee, and a piece of cake as you discover why, despite being chemically identical, the dyeing of wool and hair follow a very different course. Tickets are limited and pre-booking is essential.
£7 including buffet lunch.
Friday 11 November 7.30pm
What We Cannot Know with Prof. Marcus du Sautoy
Are there limits to what we can discover about our physical universe? Are some regions of the future beyond the predictive powers of science and mathematics? Is the universe infinite? Are there ideas so complex that they are beyond the conception of our finite human brains? Can brains even investigate themselves or does the analysis enter an infinite loop from which it is impossible to rescue itself? Marcus du Sautoy takes us to the edge of knowledge to find out what we cannot know.
£12/£10 Age 7 and upwards. Bar
Saturday 12 November 10am-4pm
Otley Science Fair
Join local groups, regional museums and national organisations showing off the best of hands-on science in Yorkshire. From physics to biology and engineering to wildlife, come along to the Otley Courthouse for this year’s even bigger science fair. There really is something for everyone, with stalls, demonstrations, workshops and experiments to have a go at.
Free event. Something for everyone.
Saturday 12 November 7.30pm
Stuff Matters with Mark Miodownik
Concrete that can heal itself, implants that become living bone and magnetic liquids: materials engineer and TV presenter Mark Miodownik explains why the world is about to become a lot stranger.
£12/£10 Age 7 and upwards. Bar.
Further information and tickets:
Tickets from www.otleycourthouse.org.uk
Box office 01943 467216 10am-4pm Mon-Sat inclusive
Where Concessionary Ticket prices are shown these apply to:
- under 16s
- those in receipt of benefits
- those in full time education
- Senior Citizens who are 60+ and retired
Buy in person from Otley Courthouse 10am-4pm Mon-Sat or on the door.
All events at Otley Courthouse
(unless otherwise specified):
Otley Courthouse Arts Centre,
Courthouse Street,
Otley,
West Yorks
LS21 3AN
Tel: 01943 467466
Join us for an evening of Ice and Fire (though if we’re honest about it, mostly Fire). Award-winning comedian Helen Keen and explosive science communicator Ian Simmons from Newcastle’s Centre for Life present experiments and demonstrations exploring some of the burning issues raised by George R R Martin’s epic adventure. Are fire breathing dragons likely? What really happens when royal families inter-breed? Could real world pyromancers create green wildfire and destroy a fleet of ships? And can you actually, really, crush someone’s skull with your bare hands? Think you know the answers? Or, do you know nothing (Jon Snow)?