As I start of my term as president of the association, I would take this opportunity to thank the past president and council members for their work over the previous year. I am sure that I will have their continued support.
Looking back over the year, the membership level has remained fairly stable, although there was a slight drop in attendance at the annual dinner, which may have been affected by the current economic climate.
Attendances at lectures and site visits have remained static despite having a varied and interesting program. However, the visit to Ginetta cars proved to be extremely popular and we hope to be able to have a repeat visit in a future program.
It is worth checking the Association web site for additional meetings that have invitations to attend. These can prove to be extremely interesting as I found out at a lecture organised by the University Mechanical Engineering and the Victorian society on the building of a Class A1 locomotive. This was well attended by railway nerds and non nerds alike, but only a small number of association members were seen.
Despite competing with the Leeds half marathon, the annual church service was well supported by the Association. We have retained the Sunday lunch after the service, which gives members a chance to meet and get to know each other better. Any members, who have never attended this service before, are extremely welcome.
At the time of writing the, the coming program is virtually complete with two dates to be filled. These dates should, hopefully, be finalised within the next two weeks. We are sure that the program is interesting with a broad spread of topics and visits to suit all tastes. Any feedback on the current program and suggestions for future programs would be welcome to enable The Association to meet our member’s interests.
The coming years are likely to be very challenging for the engineering industry and The Leeds Association of Engineers will be no exception. To meet this challenge we will be endeavouring to strengthen our ties with engineering, both manufacturing and academic.
John McClarty
(President)