Dr Sharman spoke about her experience as the first Briton to visit space and the first woman to visit the Mir space station in May 1991, aged just 27, at the Sixth Form Centre for students from various island schools and other invited guests – including the Lt-Governor Sir Richard Cripwell – to celebrate both International Women’s Day and British Science week.
‘It’s a delight really to come to Guernsey and have the opportunity to be able to share some of my experiences and also some of the ideas about not just what the students themselves might be doing in the future, but what perhaps we as a society need to be thinking about as well in the future,’ she said.
‘It’s been great and the students, of course, have been great. It’s lovely when you’re talking from a stage, you can see all of their faces, and they had some amazing questions.’
The students and guests were captivated by Dr Sharman’s experiences.
‘Helen’s journey is really inspiring,’ said 17-year-old Isobel Sexton, who is looking to also start a career in science, technology, engineering and mathematics sector.
Some of the students attended the London International Youth Science Forum in the summer and said that hearing her experiences reminded them of that experience.
‘It was very good, it brought back memories of LIYSF, thinking about groups and teams working together,’ said Monty Desforges, also 17.
Dr Sharman was brought over by Soroptimist international Guernsey.
‘It’s been amazing, we are so delighted to have Helen here,’ said president Sue Robilliard.
‘They were spellbound by her experiences, and the questions they all asked were so thoughtful.’
