A SCIENCE enthusiast who owns a bus is looking to combine the two by making the vehicle a science and technology centre for children and is encouraging backers to get involved.

Dave Treadwell used to create exhibits at Winchester Science Centre, and bought his £4,000 blue bus with the intention of it being used at the centre.

Now, after taking a year’s break, the motor engineer is ready to find other enthusiasts to bring his science experiment to life.

Dave, of Roman Way, said: “What I love is to see kids get into understanding the world around them and understanding what they are doing, it is great to see.

“I bought the bus when working at the science centre with the intention to do something there with it. Now I’ve kind of got stuck with a bus but I love this stuff and I think it’s great when kids interact with it. I don’t think schools have a great deal of facilities for this now.

“It is because I have a bus, it is probably cheaper to maintain and run it, and I can move it around to schools so it’s a pragmatic approach.”

The 32-year-old is looking for people with skills and experience to help with all aspects of the project, not just the technical hands-on ability of making exhibits.

Still in its early stages of planning, Dave hopes it can be an organic approach of sharing ideas and developing the enterprise organically to bring children an education centre with a twist.

He has already liaised with Andover College and Andover Vision about his venture.

One thing he is set on is getting it to reach as many children as possible.

Dave added: “The intention is it’s a free bus because if people start paying maybe it then limits people and I want as many children to experience science as possible, or at least have low fees just as a donation.”

The experienced exhibit creator bought the bus off eBay, and having never driven such a vehicle before drove it nearly 200 miles from Solihull to Winchester.

He joked: “It’s one opportunity to do this [science centre] or just drive round Europe as an alternative.”

To get involved with Dave’s project call 07760 99644 or email andovercarpentry@hotmail.co.uk