THE Farnborough air show brought a welcome boost for East Lancashire's aerospace industry.

Orders worth more than £1.5 million were clinched by Aero & Industrial Technology and the Pendle Group of Companies, both based in Burnley.

It was further proof of what a high-tech centre of excellence East Lancashire has become. Modern industries, such as aerospace, have become the mainstay of the local economy.

And it is even more satisfying when one considers the industrial situation of a few years ago.

The image of cloth caps, mill chimneys and cobbled streets is being swept away by high-technology know-how.

But, sadly, there are still woefully ill-informed commentators who seem to take a sadistic pleasure in harking back to that old image.

We should not lose too much sleep over that, however. The people who really matter, the leaders of the aerospace industry and other high-technological operations, know full well that if they want quality, service and back-up, the place to come is East Lancashire.

The area has adapted to new industries at an amazing pace.

And the rest of the world knows that the quality of those modern products will be every bit as superb as the goods produced around here when cotton was king.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.