If you have reached this page, you may have already visited our sponsored lighthouse designed and painted by the amazing Mrs Murals as part of the St Luke’s Guiding Lights summer art trail across Plymouth’s waterfront and city centre. We hope you loved the lighthouse as much as we do!

If you have yet to visit the lighthouse – you can find out about the trail and how to “collect” all the lighthouses here: St Lukes Guiding Lights Summer Art Trail. If our lighthouse becomes your favourite don’t forget to vote for it online!

We would also love you to enter our Plymouth Mini-Makes competition and here below we explain how!

How to Enter:

Step One – Explore this website where we showcase some of the area’s top manufacturers. You can discover who they are here!

Step Two – Use the products that these brilliant companies make as inspiration to build your own “mini” product from items you have around your home.

BUILD IDEA!  Look around your home – do you have colourful building bricks, empty toilet rolls, washing up liquid bottles, old boxes, packaging and even pasta which you could use for your creation?

You could also visit the Plymouth Scrap Store for your design and build materials – the friendly team there may have ideas and suggestions as to how you can create your entry too!

Step Three – Read our full competition terms and conditions here so you know how to enter the competition.

Take a photo of your Mini-Make and email it to us at Plymouth Manufacturers’ Group at [email protected] by 5pm on 14th September 2026 for judging.

Be sure to let us know which age category you are entering and which products and companies you are celebrating! The winning entries in each category will be rewarded with a basket of local goodies and a gift voucher!

 

DESIGN IDEAS to help showcase our Lighthouse Sponsor Companies:

  1. Kawasaki Precision Machinery makes super-strong pumps and motors that use powerful liquid (called hydraulic oil) that help big machines lift, push, dig, and steer really heavy things. These products are used in machines like diggers, tractors, cranes, and ships so lots of ideas for your competition entry!
  2. RSP builds special boxes with important electrical parts inside, which sit alongside train tracks and tell trains to stop, go, or slow down! So you could build a box with lights on or even a train or train station to celebrate RSP!
  3. Aldermans is a metal fabrication company which means they can make many different objects out of metal for a range of customers – this includes metal bed legs for luxury beds, metal parts for special adjustable chairs for people with complex care needs, metal moulds to make garden ornaments, metal casings for giant greenhouses and more!

  4. Plessey makes tiny, super-bright lights which are so small you can’t see them on their own, but when millions of them work together they can make really clear pictures for things like smart glasses and virtual reality headsets!

  5. Princess Yachts design and make beautiful luxury yachts which are bought by people all over the world. Some of these yachts have many bedrooms, with outside spaces with large sofas, and platforms to dive into the sea! How would you design your yacht?
  6. Babcock in Plymouth looks after the Royal Navy’s biggest ships and submarines. They fix and repair them, make new parts for them and make sure they’re safe to go back out to sea.
  7. NOV makes lightweight, super-strong pipes and equipment such as giant ladders, walkways, and containers that are lighter than metal  ( but are still VERY strong). These are used on ships, submarines, offshore wind farms, water treatment plants, and in factories where ordinary metal would wear out or rust.

  8. Rittal CSM makes strong metal cupboards that protect important computers and electrical equipment. These aren’t cupboards for clothes—they’re special cabinets that keep computers, wires, and electronics safe from dust, water, and damage. They are used in places like factories, hospitals, airports, and huge data centres where lots of computers work all day and night. What do you have in the home, that you could use to build a computer – maybe a cereal box for the screen but what could you use for the keyboard and mouse?

Read our Plymouth Mini-Makes competition  terms and conditions here, to make sure we receive your entry in the correct category with all the necessary information.

Why not follow us on Facebook and Instagram @PlymouthMakes to stay up to date on the competition? Over the coming weeks, we will give details of the prizes to be won and celebrate some of the entries on our socials too!

If you visit our sponsored lighthouse and take a photo with the beautifully painted Mrs Murals design, why not tag us @PlymouthMakes in the photo too!

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