THE LEEDS ASSOCIATION OF ENGINEERS
Minutes of the Council Meeting held at 7.30 pm on Thursday 5th February 2026 at The Corner House Club Leeds.
1. Attendance. G. Roper in the chair with J. Aldersley S. Wilkinson, A. Kibler, N. Burchall and I. Blakeley.
2. Apologies for absence. M. Murray, J. Burton, I. Auty, C. Pinder, M. Golubevs , J. Bentley, A. Rogers, G. Toulson, H. Soutar, S. Stacey and R. Town.
3. Minutes of the Previous Meeting, dated 4th December 2025 were approved & signed.
4. Matters Arising. None.
5. Treasurers Report. Mr. Kibler reported the following bank transactions which have arisen since the last meeting. He commented that a £500 donation has been sent to the Mars Rover Project (Leeds University care of H. Soutar).
| Date | Transaction | Debit | Credit |
| 14/Jan/26 | Annual Dinner – G. Kibler | – | 70.00 |
| 23/Jan/26 | Annual Dinner – A. Kibler | – | 70.00 |
| 29/Jan/26 | Hire of Church Hall (for January Lecture) | – | 50.00 |
| 29/Jan/26 | Subs – Colin Bell (cash – A. Kibler) | – | 20.00 |
| 02/Feb/26 | Subs – Harvey Court (student) | – | 9.00 |
| 02/Feb/26 | Annual Dinner – M. & L. Murray | – | 70.00 |
Balance of Accounts was reported but not published here.
6. Correspondence. Mr. Aldersley said he received an email from Neil Cobbold (member of Leeds Association) telling us that the visit to Finnings of Leeds is agreed in principle but this would have to be a Saturday in June when we should hopefully have better weather. He has emailed Middleton Railway regarding a visit and is awaiting a response. He contacted U.T.C. Leeds (University Technical College) inviting them to attend our January lecture but none of their students attended.
7. Membership. Nothing to report.
8. Orion Project “The Mars Rover”. Progress is slow, the university is just getting back to normal after the Christmas break. They have got further sponsorship from R. S. Components and have been given some machining time at Kirkstall Engineering, this machining will most likely be carried out by Kirkstall employees who are student members of L.A.E. (Leeds Association of Engineers).
9. Current Programme. Mr. Wilkinson is finalising the details for a visit to ACS Stainless Fixings at the end of February, details are to be sent to Mr. Toulson for posting on the website and to Mr. Murray so he can circulate the usual flyer by email. Mr. Aldersley said he will ask Mr. Soutar (student member of L.A.E.) if he can give his talk on robotics at the end of March. He will also contact Sulzer to hopefully arrange the factory visit which has been agreed in principal for the end of April, this is dependent on Sulzers having their ongoing building work complete. If the Sulzer visit cannot happen then an alternative might be a visit to Millers Oils, but this would have to be a daytime visit (Monday to Wednesday).
10. Next Session. We briefly discussed the potential visits and lectures we have for the next session, none of which are confirmed at this time. We agreed that when we have the program complete for the current session we need to continue to fill the program for events starting in September 2026. We have a vague promise of a visit to Reliance Gears on the outskirts of Huddersfield. We have contacted Fox’s Biscuits of Batley but are waiting for a response. We have the offer of a return visit to Siddall Hilton Brighouse (wire mesh fencing) and a visit to Greyhound Box Company Leeds all of which need confirming and adding to the diary. At the moment we seem short of potential lectures/talks. It might be necessary to look at getting lectures from Probus, but this of course has financial implications, the speakers want paying and could need expenses for accommodation.
11. Website. The website is up to date. Mr. Toulson refreshes it with new articles submitted by the membership when they become available. A new feature is a write up describing what has been seen on factory visits or a summary of a presentation/talk we have recently had. Mr. Wilkinson copies and pastes the article from the website onto our Linkedin page. He commented that it would be a nice feature to have a link from the website to the Linkedin page.
12. Golf. Mr. Stacey advised us by email that everything that can be done for the 2026 Golf Tournament at this stage is in place. He has negotiated what he believes to be a very good price for a day’s golf. He just needs to send out application details closer to the date.
13. Annual Dinner. Mr. Kibler said the Annual Dinner is fully organised. The menu and application form has been sent out by email to the membership. He said that he feels it is very good value at £35 per head for a four course meal. He pointed out that this is not a members’ only event. Members are encouraged to bring friends and family for what is always a very pleasant evening. Uptake as usual has been slow, he encourage anyone considering coming along to get their applications back to him. He said he has run the Annual Dinner for seven years now but this will be his last one.
14. Annual Church Service. Mr. Roper (our new President) will be doing the reading, but will not discover what he is to read until a week before the service.
15. Journal. Mr. Kibler has agreed to produce / edit the journal in the future and has got Mr. Bentley’s most recent version on a memory stick. However, nothing needs doing at this time as the last journal was published in 2025 and the next one will probably be released in 2029/2030.
16. Morley Church Hall Closure. Mr. Aldersley, Mr. Roper and Mr. Wilkinson (LAE Council member and WDS employee) had a meeting with Andrew Dawson the Managing Director of WDS Components Limited where it was agreed that we can have access to one of their meeting rooms for future lectures. We are unlikely to use this facility before the start of the next session in September 2026. Mr. Wilkinson will act as a key-holder and meetings will be when the factory is working nightshifts.
Any other Business. Mr. Roper thanked Mr. Wilkinson for accepting the role of Vice-President. He said it is quite difficult for him knowing what needs to be done and by what date. He said it would be useful if we could create some kind of handbook/diary and perhaps one of our former Presidents or long standing council members could come up with something. Having no other business Mr. Roper closed the meeting.
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