Volume Two - The Era of Optimism, Investment & Development - Some broken records and repairs . . .

The first record of the era to comment upon is that of the Queen who ruled for 60 years and who died in 1901. Victoria, and her governments, oversaw the meteoric development of our country, through the industrial revolution and fostered an environment where social, technological and scientific advances flourished to the benefit of the majority.

In sharp contrast to this, Queen Elizabeth II, and her successive governments, have done little but reverse and destroy the environment and infrastructure required for the future development of our country. We now have a situation where at least two generations of engineers are missing! I feel better for getting that off my chest; back to the story!

	1910 - Captain Scott's ship the "Terra Nova" departing Cardiff with Penarth Head in the background en-route to the Antarctic on an ill-fated expedition. The ship returned three years later to her berth at Cardiff but without Scott and his men.
	The next broken record and to illustrate the need for larger capacity ship repairs, is the launch of the steam ship Mauetania in 1906 for Cunard on the Tyne. A record in that she was the largest and fastest liner in the World.

It was an age when records, and reputations, were made and broken. An example being that in 1909 it was reputed that the world’s first £1 million cheque was written and exchanged at the Coal Exchange in Cardiff.