Bristol-based company Limbs & Things Ltd. was established in 1990 by Margot Cooper to serve the needs of hands-on medical education and training. Margot Cooper has been a member of the UK Medical Artists Association since 1968 and is currently immediate past president of the European Association of Medical and Scientific Illustrators. Through her work in the area of medical education she identified a growing need for a form of training away from patients, cadavers and animals. The rapid development of Minimal Access Surgery (keyhole surgery) was just one of the factors influencing a movement toward a new way of gaining skills. She therefore decided to specialise in 3-dimensional models and started trading as Limbs & Things Ltd. to establish a commercial presence in this field. The Company quickly identified a major opportunity in development of materials, and of moulding and casting techniques to allow soft tissue to be simulated effectively. In the first two years of the Company's operation, substantial resources were invested in developing and refining materials and techniques for the simulation of skin and connective tissue and soft tissue generally. The Company now has a proprietary technology which is considered to be ahead of any other in the world in this field. Limbs & Things creates, designes and manufactures soft tissue part-task trainers, and supplies its product through out the world.