THE LEEDS ASSOCIATION OF ENGINEERS
Minutes of the Council Meeting held at 7.30pm on Thursday 4th February 2016 at the Cornerhouse Club Leeds
1. Attendance. B. Yates President in the chair with, J. Shergill J. Aldersley, I. Scholes, M. Murray, J. Bentley, A. Rogers, S. Stacey, A. Kibler and I. Blakeley.
2. Apologies for absence. H. Kingswell, G. Toulson & K. Hegarty.
3. Minutes of the Previous Meeting. After welcoming new council member Mr. Stacey, the minutes dated 7th January 2016 were approved & signed.
4. Matters Arising. None.
5. Treasurers Report. Mr. Bentley did not report any financial transactions this month. He commented that when he spoke to Graham Mallinson to invite him to this year’s annual dinner, Graham said he would have to decline the invitation because he is due to have an operation and is not sure how long the recovery will take. He also said he would prefer not to audit our accounts to give himself time to recover. Mr. Shergill agreed to check and sign off the accounts
6. Correspondence. We had no new correspondence this month however Mr. Stacey commented that he also had received curious emails in the same vein as Mr. Scholes reported last month. These are directed through Leeds Association website.
7. Membership. Nothing to report.
8. Current Programme. The visit to the photography exhibition at Manningham Park is confirmed for 13th March for the ladies event. The subject of the exhibition is 100 most famous ladies (thanks to Mr. Murray). We have an additional event planned for the 25th February, this is a lecture on the first electric powered autocar in the world. Mr Yates will give a lecture on Russian rocket engines at the A.G.M. on the 31st March. We agreed to try organise a visit to JCB on either the 12th or 19th May depending on their availability.
9. Next Session. Initial approaches have been made to a number of companies including Asquith Machine Tools, the Bio Med Company at Low Moor and a company who makes cardboard rolls.
10. Website. Nothing to report other than the venue for the annual dinner is not on the website.
11. Journal. Mr. Bentley reported good progress has been made, he is looking to get a quotation for printing of 150 journals. Mr Scholes is going to investigate the cost of purchasing a colour laser printer with a view to doing our own printing. Mr. Bentley will be on holiday at the time of the next council meeting but will email us his quotation so that we can make a decision on which direction to take.
12. Golf. Mr. Stacey confirmed this year’s tournament will be at Cobble Hall golf club who have kindly offered a free round of golf for four people as one of the prizes. Mr Stacey has been in touch with Alan Braime who he is hoping will get involved with this year’s tournament (son of man who donated Braime trophy).
13. Annual Dinner. We discussed the fact that this year we are not having a main speaker and are having a female singing duet Molly and Siobhan. At our previous meetings we had agreed not to have a top table but we have been told that if the mayor is in attendance protocol dictates that we must. The Lord Mayor of Leeds has agreed to attend with her consort and we have had a letter of acceptance from Sam Cawley the new vicar at Leeds Parish Church. The top table to now will be the two singers our President Mr. Yates and his partner Jane, Lord Mayor and her Consort, Sam Cawley, Mike Freeman (President of Hull Association) and the President of Keighley Association. We are to invite the two gentlemen who gave us the visit to Marton Mills Otley (who said they would like to bring their wives), Bob Bray, Graham from Leeds University and a representative of Optare who we are due to visit shortly. Mr Rogers said he is visiting Headingley Golf Club tomorrow to discuss the menu which should be similar to last year. The Lord Mayors nominated charity is for autistic children who will receive the proceeds of the raffle. Mr. Yates will speak to Steve Gledhill to see if he can convince them to book a table. He will also speak to Bruce (President of Keighley Association) and John Pankhurst to see if any of their members would like to make a booking.
Any other Business. Mr Scholes told us about the new engineering college which is due to open in Leeds. He questioned whether we might be able to get involved by offering a student prize as we did in the past when companies offered apprenticeships. He agreed to make contact with the college to see if they are interested. Having no other business Mr. Yates closed the meeting.
.
………………………………………President. ……………….. Date