‘Force of Nature’ ‘Force of Nature’ is a Steam Powered ‘Rocket’ Motorcycle built by Graham Sykes for drag racing, record breaking, exhibitions and events. Four years ago Graham brought along this amazing bike and told members about the project. Graham, a precision engineer from North Yorkshire, designed his rocket bike in his garden shed with his wife, Diane, over the … Continue reading “Steam Rocket Bike – Big Update…..”
Report on Ben King’s Talk – January 2026 John Aldersley attended the talk by Ben King on Thursday 29th January 2026 and kindly produced a report on the meeting. Here are John’s words….. Ben presented his talk using a Power Point presentation. It started with a little family history, which I found fascinating. He said the seed was set … Continue reading “Report on Ben King’s talk – 29th January 2026…..”
Report:- Carnaud Metal Box Engineering visit…. In November 2025 we were invited to visit Carnaud Metal Box Engineering in Wortley, Leeds and our host was John Crabtree, Mechanical Engineering Manager. LAE Member Neil Cobbold kindly offered a report on the visit as follows:- “We all arrived at the Wortley site in good time. Howard reversed parked like a … Continue reading “Report: Visit to Carnaud Metal Box – November 2025…..”
A talk by World Skills Gold Medal Winner Ben King. The January event was to have been a talk by council member Cameron Pinder but in pursuit of his own World Skills involvement he has been given the opportunity to do some training in Wales and on to the UAE and there is talk of a visit to China, so … Continue reading “Lecture Meeting – 29th January 2026…..”
Dinner Secretary Andrew Kibler has arranged the 161st Anniversary Dinner to be held on Saturday 18th April 2026 at The Manor. Book your places now ! See full details, with menu, on the event page (see in the right hand Forthcoming Events section) ….
Results of the World Skills Competition Following on from the previous post, here are the results of the competition. Our council member Martins Golubevs won the Silver Medal. Well done Martins ! Martins’ colleague at Kirkstall Precision Engineering, Ben King (pictured below), won the Gold Medal. The photograph below was taken at the premises of Kirkstall Precision Engineering. Left to … Continue reading “Update on the World Skills Competition – Results…..”
Iron Ore from Western Australia Vas Dziombak, long time friend of John Aldersley, is our association member based in Western Australia. Vas is the Senior Reliability Engineer – Mechanical at the BHP Billiton mining site at Pilbara in Western Australia. He has put together a short PowerPoint type presentation (as a PDF link) for our members. Here is the link … Continue reading “Vas Dziombak – Our member in Australia…..”
John Aldersley has been following closely the progress of some of our young engineers and he reports here with some excellent news….. “I received a message from Cameron Pinder today. It appears that Martins Golubevs has done really well in the World Skills competition. He and Ben King have been taking part in the CAM and CNC milling competition possibly … Continue reading “World Skills – News of our Young Engineers…..”
Please note all those who have booked to attend the visit on Thursday 27th November… You are requested to read the PDF Induction Instructions prior to the visit. Visit the event page to download and read these instructions. Also note: Mr. Crabtree has requested that you reverse park cars on site….
