Ada in Porlock

Join Rachel Gilmour, our Member of Parliament, together with local schools and businesses as we launch “Ada in Porlock”, the new initiative which sets out to promote Porlock and to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers by linking with the legacy of Ada Lovelace, world pioneer of computer programming, and who for many years lived near Porlock Weir.

• Hear about our successful first year of teaming up with the Moorland Federation of primary schools and with Minehead Middle School and discuss our plans for extending this work to more schools in 2026. We also welcome those interested in joining us;
• Learn how two local engineering companies, Singer Instruments and Shearwell Data, have already built outstanding international reputations from their West Somerset bases;
• See how our volunteers working with Exmoor National Parks in the Culbone woods, have opened out the stunning vistas overlooking the Bristol channel and are restoring paths that formed part of the famous “Philosopher’s Walk” at Ada’s home, Ashley Combe, where she and Charles Babbage, the ‘father of the computer’ envisioned a digital world;
• Hear about new research conducted by Bristol University revealing why Ada and her husband William should be credited with creating the first arboretum in the South West of England;
• Be among the first to follow the new ‘Ada Lovelace Walk’, a thirty-minute walking guide to the Porlock that Ada Lovelace would have known.  

The launch starts at 10.30 on Tuesday 27 May at Porlock Village Hall. Join us then to hear the full story, or from 11.30 to meet and chat with the Ada in Porlock volunteers and representatives from Exmoor National Parks, local schools, Singer Instruments, Shearwell Data and Bristol University.

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