How Britain Worked

Talking of Heinz Wolff - he's still around and active at Brunel Uni - he had things well sorted. Here's a quote from an interview with him which I think most on ere will concur with:

"Wolff has lectured on the 'death of competence' and he thinks it's brought about by the abandonment of micromanipulation – doing something small and critical with the hand. 'Our engineering students can't make things. They might be able to design things on a computer, but they can't make things. And I don't believe that you can be an engineer properly, in terms of it circulating in your blood and your brain, without having a degree of skill in making things.' He explains that this is why apprenticeships were so good, because 'you actually made things while learning a bit of the theory'.

In neglecting to teach basic manual skills we are producing a generation that carries the seeds of its own impotence. Wolff believes that whilst all teachers agree children should be articulate and use language with precision and skill, 'they don't attach the same values to the use of their hands.'

Nothing else to add really,

Best regards

Terry

Wolff believes that whilst all teachers agree children should be articulate and use language with precision and skill, 'they don't attach the same values to the use of their hands.

Those who can, do. And those who can't, teach. (And those who can't teach, teach the teachers.)

No offence meant.

Peter G. Shaw

But the worst bit was surely the Maintenance Volunteer ... who attacked the taper on the Water Injector with what looked like a sheet of Sandpaper.

The mind boggled !

MichaelG.

one thing I didn't know was the inbuilt striker in the miners lamp...

which leads me to wonder when they use miners lamps for carring the olympic flame (when not in the tourch) how do the get it in there ? ....I mean do they faf around disasembling the lamp or pop the striker?

Hi,

Have to admit I love Pink Floyd, ever since I was at Mothers in Erdington when they recorded one half of Umagumma.

I enjoyed this episode of the programme but I think they missed a trick in that the 1712 engine was installed by Newcomen at the Conygre pit less than a mile away from the Black Country Museum. I know he mentioned that it was 'just up the road' but a bit more detail might have brought the message alive.

In fact it is thought that the 1712 engine was the second Newcomen engine to be installed, the first being a couple of miles North towards Wolverhampton near what was known as the 'Stour Valley Line' (AKA the West Coast Main Line), (probably somewhere near Havacre Lane or Darkhouse Lane for those who know the area). I came across an old photograph of the remains of the engine house somewhere on the internet some years ago but can't find it now.

I have a personal interest in the area as I was born and brought just a couple of miles from the BCM and less than a mile from where the original Abraham Darby lived he was the grandfather of Abraham Darby III of Ironbridge fame. The old man was himself also connected with iron making from marital connections with the Earl of Dudley who had the Newcomen engine installed at Conygre pit.

I think Guy is improving by the way, but still prefer a more measured approach to presenting.

Best regards

Terry

My basic Davey lamp doesn't have a striker. They were lit on the surface. Sounds like a fancy version.

Mine has a striker. It is a type GR6S made by The Protector Lamp & Lighting Co. Ltd. Eccles with the serial number 1605.

John