THE LEEDS ASSOCIATION OF ENGINEERS
Minutes of the Council Meeting held at 7.15pm on Thursday 1st December 2016 at the Cornerhouse Club Leeds.
1. Attendance. B.Yates, President in the chair, J. Aldersley, M. Murray, S. Stacey, G. Toulson, I. Scholes, A. Rogers, J. Bentley, J. Shergill, K. Hegarty and I. Blakeley.
2. Apologies for absence. A. Kibler, and H. Kingswell.
3. Minutes of the Previous Meeting, dated 3rd November 2016 were approved & signed.
4. Matters Arising. Mr. Yates said he was very disappointed that none of his list of suggestions for lectures / visits had been used in creating the new programme of events for this season. It was explained that because everything was done at the last minute it was easier to use council members existing contacts than trying to establish contact with the people Mr. Yates has spoken to previously. We hope to contact the people on the list for the next session / season.
5. Treasurers Report. Mr. Bentley reported the following transactions :-
Payments made :- Printing of Journal – £243.67
Room Hire (Cornerhouse Club) – £120.00
Cheque to Petty Cash – £100.00
Total = £463.67
Received into savings account :- £9.53
Cash in Hand – £151.70
6. Correspondence. Mr Toulson reported that he had received correspondence from Mr John Suter of the Newcomen Society who are based in Sheffield. Mr Suter had met Bill Jagger (a member of Leeds Association of Engineers) who was attending one of their lectures. Bill told them about L.A.E. and suggested that they might contact us. Mr Suter’s letter offers us free access to their programme of events which are usually held at Kelham Industrial Museum Sheffield. Mr. Touson will list 4 of their events on our website, these include a lecture on Hornby and mechanical toys, Brunel’s Thames Tunnel, Henry Ford’s holiday where he travelled around Europe collecting steam engines and a lecture on stealth technology. In turn we agreed to offer members of their society free access to our lectures, Mr. Toulson will put a link from our website to theirs, Mr. Toulson will also write to Mr. Suter. Mr. Murray had received correspondence from Mr. Jagger giving him contact details for someone at English Fine Cottons, a company in Lancashire who are trying to promote high quality textiles and re-establish the demand in the U.K. They are prepared to either give us a lecture or even offer a factory visit.
7. Membership. Mr. Murray said that response to requests for subscriptions is going well with a significant number of the membership having made payment already. However he did say we currently have 5 or 6 members who have arrears of 3 years. He is trying to contact those members by phone or email and will make them an offer of a reduced fee if they choose to continue their membership (one time offer only). He has not sent them copies of the journal because he is unsure whether they have changed address and postage costs are significant, particularly if they do not renew their membership. We have received more email addresses for our members with their application forms, this will allow us to further reduce our postage costs when doing the monthly flyers. Mr. Stacey proposed a new candidate for membership, Mr Christopher Harding, managing director of J.P.G. a civil engineering company. He was seconded by Mr. Hegarty and accepted by a show of hands of the council members subject to ratification at the next open meeting of our membership. Mr Stacey pointed out that Mike Stoker’s name is missing from the journal which probably means he is missing from the membership list, Mr. Murray will check his computer.
8. Current Programme. Mr Shergill as organised the next lecture on construction of a Peninne Dam and the use of puddle clay. He will purchase plastic aprons for our members to wear when handling the clay and Mr. Blakeley will supply disposable rubber gloves. Mr. Shergill confirmed the visit of the Lieutenant of West Yorkshire is arranged and also the visit to the Sikh temple in Bradford that will take place in March. We must inform our members that men will be required to wear a hat at the temple and any lady visitors must wear a headscarf, all visitors will be required to remove their shoes. The Headingley Golf Club is provisionally booked for our 151st Annual Dinner, and we are hoping to have our annual church service on the 7th May (we need to contact the vicar). The summer solstice walk is still to arrange, Mr. Scholes proposed contacting the Bradford Model Engineers who gave us a talk recently, they sail their model boats in a park in Bradford which might be suitable for the walk and they might be persuaded to put on a display for us.
9. Next Session. Mr.Hegarty said that contrary to last months minutes he has not been in contact with Jet2, but a friend told him they have been on one of the visits / open days and it was excellent. Perhaps it would be of interest to our members. We have a number of possible lectures / visits that could not be organised in time for this year’s programme along with the list of possibilities compiled by Mr. Yates. We decided that we should start trying to organise the programme for the next session as soon as possible in order to avoid the last minute chaos we have had this time.
10. Website. Mr. Aldersley has now been added as Vice President. Mr Toulson has created a Facebook page and linked it to the website. Mr. Hegarty requested that when Mr. Toulson emails the notice advising council meeting minutes are available to print, that a link be added to the email to direct the recipient directly to the minutes.
11. Journal. The journal is now published.
12. Golf. Mr Stacey has spoken to Alan Braime about returning the golf trophy so that it can be engraved with the winner’s name. The tournament for 2017 is arranged, the cost of the meal for non- playing members is expected to be around £16 but this needs confirming before publishing.
13. Annual Dinner. Not discussed in the absence of Mr. Kibler / dinner secretary.
Any other Business. Having no other business Mr. Yates closed the meeting.
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