I’ve just had a fantastic experience visiting a family engineering firm. Blatchfords make artificial limbs and they’ve been going for over 119 years. They’ve just won Product of the Year in the Engineering Awards  for  their latest hydraulic foot which the judges said  was closer than anyone has ever gone before to being able to replicate the human joint.
The firm were extraordinary and clearly inspire loyalty – not only are there many long term memebers of staff but customers volunteer themselves for trials so they can try out the very latest technology. Kelvin, who lost his leg in a motorcycle accident 7 years ago is one of those happy customers – and showed me how tiny adjustments make all the difference.
He arrived on a motorbike and was off to compete in a competition at the weekend, so his accident hasn’t got in the way of his passion for bikes.