WHILE East Lancashire's traditional heavy dependence on manufacturing may have been balanced in recent years by the growth of commercial and service businesses, the importance of its 'metal bashers' is rightly stressed today by aerospace campaigner Dennis Mendoros.

For Mr Mendoros, chairman of the Nelson-based North West Aerospace Alliance, warns that the prosperity of our region hinges on the survival and growth of its key manufacturing industries -- at the forefront of which are its hi-tech aerospace firms.

Their contribution to the economy is highlighted by the fact that the biggest of them, BAE Systems, itself directly and indirectly supports 36,000 jobs in the North West alone and provides orders for 1,200 companies while pouring £8million a year into local taxation. And multiplied by the hundreds of aerospace firms, large and small, in the region, it becomes evident that these manufacturers provide, as Mr Mendoros accurately remarks, not only the financial lifeblood of the communities surrounding them, but that they also need to be sustained and retained.

Rightly, he calls for everyone in the region and at government level to support this and for the firms themselves to continue to invest in their home markets. And, above all, it is crucial that their manufacturing capacity and skills are preserved in readiness for the expected upturn in the aerospace market.

For once the jobs and orders have flown abroad, it will be at a massive loss to East Lancashire and its future.