Lucy's winning design

10:30am Wednesday 15th October 2008

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A DORCHESTER bright spark has solved the problem of untied laces with a winning futuristic design.

Lucy Buckwell from Sunninghill Preparatory School has been chosen as South West winner of the 2008 Cracking Ideas Competition.

Lucy, 11, designed the shoe Tyer-Upper to take the stress out of bending down to tie your laces by coming up with the idea of mechanical fingers that are fixed to the back of a shoe and tie laces automatically.

She said: “I came up with the idea because at the corridor in school I have to keep stopping when my shoelaces come undone.

“I designed hands with a padded back area so people don’t have to bend down.

“I did it for fun and I never thought the idea would end up like this – it is really exciting.”

Year six pupil Lucy has won her school a laptop, signed board games and a selection of DVDs and goodies.

Head of design and technology at the school Sally Dyke said the pupils put huge effort into the competition.

She added: “The children worked so hard on the project and really enjoyed the whole process.

“I am really impressed with the initiative and how it managed to draw out the creative instinct in the children while still keeping a strong educational element to the process.”

The competition was judged by the UK Intellectual Property Office, who rated the Tyer-Upper among the best inventions nationwide.

Lucy’s idea will now battle it out with six other schools for the national title to be judged by Wallace and Gromit creator Nick Park.

Cracking Ideas is the biggest government-backed project of its kind and it uses specific lesson plans and teaching resources.

Minister of State for higher education and intellectual property David Lammy said: “Britain has a wonderful tradition of creativity and we want to nurture the next generation of inventors.”