Make do and mend
19 June 2023A pamphlet issued by the British Ministry of Information in the midst of WWII contained the phrase 'make do and mend'. It was designed to provide housewives with useful tips on how to be both frugal and stylish in times of harsh rationing.
Who would have thought that, almost 80 years later, the term would still be in popular use – here in the UK at least.
Now, though, it's mostly used in connection with a different type of war: the battle to save the environment by fixing and preserving what we've already got thereby lessening our environmental impact.
This rise in environmental awareness can be seen in the rapid rise of 'repair cafes' accross the country. At these 'cafes' you can take your old, wore-out items and give them a new lease of life. This is one area where in which the crane industry has been ahead of the curve. As you can see in our repair and refurbishment feature both specialists and some manufacturers repair and refurbish cranes – and they have been doing so for some time. As Micha Gouweleeuw, MD of Dutch restoration specialist Gouweleeuw, points out in the article, “the value depends on whether they are in good working order, not on their age.”
See the magic Gouweleeuw can work in the renewal of a Goldhofer trailer.
Elsewhere in the issue the increase in environmental considerations can also be seen. In News, for example, there's rapid progress with the development of the world's largest electric crane by Mammoet; and in the tower crane feature we see the uptake in the use of fibre rope (with the corresponding environmental benefits this can bring), alongside the increasing use of emissions-free batteries to power cranes on job sites.
