ENGINEERING
Relatively recent skills of engineering saw many advances under the railway arches and in the small factories of the parish as the years rolled by. Then technology's steady advance became leaps of innovation; but still the skills of individuals were necessary for the finished product to be of a quality and relevance for ever-changing times. The information technology emerging so rapidly in the second half of the twentieth century hugely enhanced productive capacity, required higher mobility in job seeking, demanded frequent retraining and raised the potential for misuse in overproduction and in sophisticated weaponry. Choice is exciting and stimulates further invention, but also requires constant vigilance if justice, participation and sustainability are to remain benchmarks of the responsible stewardship of our immense resources fashioned for human use.
