THE achievements of the Ada in Porlock action group (AiP) were celebrated in the House of Commons on Thursday October 16 in a special debate in Westminster Hall to mark the pioneering work of computer pioneer Ada Lovelace, who spent her summers at Ashley Combe near Porlock Weir.

Ada Lovelace is widely recognised as the world’s first computer programmer, foreseeing the true potential of Charles Babbage’s mechanical calculating machine, the Analytical Engine, almost two centuries ago, in the 1840s. She continued this work whilst staying at Ashley Combe.

The daughter of the poet Lord Byron, Ada Lovelace died of cancer at only 36 and it took nearly a century before the value of her work was recognised.

Local MP Rachel Gilmour had invited members from the AiP committee to attend the debate, during which she paid tribute to the group’s recent achievements, using Ada’s example to encourage the take up in local schools of the STEM subjects - science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

For the past twelve months, AiP has been running successful workshops and competitions across the Moorland Federation of primary schools and is now extending the project into the district’s middle and secondary schools."

The workshops have included extra-curricular STEM clubs and supported pupils considering careers in science and technology by allowing the chance to talk with local STEM professionals,” said Paul Brooks, who representing Ada in Porlock, at Westminster.

"While immediate opportunities are limited there are two world class engineering companies in the region - Singer Instruments and Shearwell Data - and the developments around Hinkley Point and the Agratas battery facility will soon require more local talent to follow in the footsteps of Ada Lovelace."

Mrs Gilmour also highlighted how important these subjects were in an area with some of the poorest social mobility in the country.

Mrs Gilmour referred to what she called the “wonderful Ada in Porlock.”

She said: “Although in its infancy, having just run for a year and a half, it has been at the heart of a number of community projects.”

She said that although Ada Lovelace had left a rich intellectual legacy in West Somerset, STEM paths in the area, and in particular the numbers of girls going into STEM, left much to be desired.

As well as the STEM project, AiP is also collaborating on a woodland restoration programme with the Exmoor National Park Authority in Ashley Combe woods, adjoining the site of Ada’s now long demolished mansion.

Ada and her husband William King developed one of the South West’s most significant arboretums in these woods.

In September the Ada in Porlock initiative secured the placing of a blue plaque to the visionary mathematician on the South West Coast Path near where she regularly walked with Charles Babbage envisioning a future digital world.

Volunteers have already started to clear some of the undergrowth, revealing some of the original trees planted in the 1840s and other landscape features, including impressive dry stone walls that once lined scenic drives through the woods to Culbone.