“Amazing” was how Lisbellaw man Chris McCreery felt on Tuesday after orchestrating a record-breaking event – the world’s biggest ever science lesson.

The record breaker was one of the events in the first Northern Ireland Science Festival, the brain-child of Mr. McCreery.

The new Guinness World Record was set when 1,339 year seven and eight students took part in the world’s biggest ever simultaneous science lesson at the Odyssey Arena, Belfast. The students carried out a ‘crimatography’ experiment, which involved solving a crime using science. The previous world record consisted of 982 participants and was achieved by The Rodillian Academy in Yorkshire in July 2014.

Employment and Learning Minister Stephen Farry attended the lesson, saying: “I am pleased that the previous world record has not only been surpassed, but vastly exceeded. This is another example of how the Science Festival has been able to showcase our considerable Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) talent and skills, which will be key drivers behind our economy in the 21st century.” Pravin Patel, Guinness World Record adjudicator, kept the audience in suspense before announcing that they had indeed smashed the previous record. “I was so nervous that he was going to say we hadn’t broken the record,” laughs Mr. McCreery, who was delighted to hear the children erupt into cheers when they received the good news.

“A serious amount of work went into the planning of the event so it feels amazing to have broken the record,” he commented.

Running until this Sunday, the science festival began on February 19 and expects to see 20,000 visitors.

“Today was the highlight of the festival. It was the biggest event in terms of logistics and the wow factor,” Mr. McCreery said.

“The idea came about through a conversation with the Royal Society of Chemistry and we decided to do it together. It took about six months to plan,” he explained.

“As a festival, we wanted to make a massive impact; a good teacher will explain, but a great teacher will inspire. A big event like this will stay with the kids forever. 1,339 kids left here today knowing that they are world record breakers in a science field; the whole festival is about creating a buzz around science.” Son of Edith and Jim McCreery, Chris attended Lisbellaw Primary School and Portora Royal School, before studying Politics at Queen’s Universty, Belfast.

“I regretted not studying biology or natural history. I’ve always been interested in science. In primary school I would have always been reading science books, I could name any cloud formulation, I loved watching David Attenborough,” Mr. McCreery said.

Through his role as Chairman of the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival, he became interested in putting on his own event. “The idea for a science festival was initially an extra curricular activity and it just snowballed,” Mr. McCreery says.

When he secured funding from QUB, Ulster University, the Open University, Belfast City Council, Invest NI and the British Council, he knew he was onto a winner. He became Director of the Northern Ireland Science Festival and formed a Board, which includes: W5, the Northern Ireland Science Park, the three universities, Colleges NI, the Institute of Physics, the Royal Society of Chemistry and individuals from the arts sector.

“It’s all about trying to inspire a generation of kids with an interest in STEM and celebrating science as a core part of culture and society,” Mr. McCreery summed up.

Feedback has been “incredible” and he hopes that the festival can continue in the future. Mr. McCreery concludes: “Our big ambition would be to make it an international festival, with high-profile international speakers.”