BEASTIES and creepy crawlies are helping the Central Science Laboratory (CSL) at Sand Hutton to intensify the fascination of thousands of schoolchildren in the region in scientific study.

How else would four and five-year-olds come nose-to-nose with a hissing cockroach or Doris the bird-eating spider?

The link between business and education is all part of CSL's mission statement to "liaise with regional agencies and schools to promote public awareness and understanding through communication of CSL's science".

It is the reason why this public sector laboratory - which explores for the Government and private agencies the biology, physics and chemistry of agriculture food and the environment - was a finalist in last year's Best Business and Education Link category of the Evening Press Business Awards.

Since then the communication has intensified - and the CSL is competing in the same category this year.

The laboratory has its own schools liaison unit to co-ordinate all requests for activities, speakers, materials and work experience and has a pool of staff volunteering their services.

Since January, CSL has organised 30 events both on and off its premises.

That included "Minibeast" visits to local junior schools, in which four and five-year-olds study live creepy crawlies; applied science days, looking at topics ranging from health and safety in a scientific environment to the use of animals in research, from plant health to analytical chemistry; and school visits, to talk about careers or topics like food hygiene.

A new initiative this year was National Insect Week, in which the CSL's entomology department played host to four separate visits to schoolchildren across North Yorkshire.

Updated: 10:59 Wednesday, September 01, 2004