THE LEEDS ASSOCIATION OF ENGINEERS
Minutes of the Council Meeting held at 7.15pm on Thursday 3rd January 2013 at the Cornerhouse Club Leeds.
1. Attendance. J. Shergill (President) in the chair with A. Kibler, J. Aldersley, B. Yates, J. Bentley, J. McClarty, A. Rogers, K. Hegarty, M. Murray and I. Blakeley.
2. Apologies for absence. T. Ashton, & G. Toulson.
3. Minutes of the Previous Meeting, dated 6th December 2012 were, approved & signed after making two corrections, the name of the new member of the association is Mr. Craven not Mr. Crane and the cost of Imax tickets was £175.20 not £105.00.
4. Matters Arising. None.
5. Treasurers Report. Mr. Bentley reported the following transactions.
Current Account Balance – No longer disclosed in Council minutes.
Credits: –
Subscriptions – £390.00
3 ½% War Stock (Dividend) – £37.90
Payments since December: – None
Savings Account Balance – No longer disclosed in Council minutes.
6. Annual Church Service. Mr. Murray said we have previously agreed with our membership that we would like to have a brass plaque in the Leeds Parish Church to acknowledge our long association with the church. We need to discuss this with Tony Bundock (Rector) to see if this would be allowed. The date for the 2013 Annual Service remains unchanged 12th May.
7. Correspondence. None.
8. Current Programme. Mr. Yates reported that we sold tickets to a value of £148.00 for the ladies evening at the Imax cinema. This meant our subsidy amounted to just £27.20. Everyone enjoyed the film and seven people went for a curry after the show. Our next event will be a factory visit to Thomas Broadbent & Sons (Huddersfield) on 24th January 2013.
9. Membership. Mr. Murray commented that the response to the subscription request was fast this year, with subscriptions coming in quickly. Unfortunately we have lost three members, he wrote to two of these advising them they were in arrears (coming up to three years). He did not get a response so has removed them from the register. Mr. Murray suggested we all work harder in recruiting new members, as we cannot afford to see our numbers diminish, as our core membership is getting older.
10. Next Session. Mr. Shergill has spoken to a company who make fire retardant cloth for settees. He asked whether we could have a factory visit. They agreed in principle but are unable to accommodate us in the evening. It was suggested that this might make an extra event for our retired members.
11. Website. Mr. Rogers said has been trying to use our website to identify people who gave us factory visits or lectures in the last year, so he could write to them and offer an invite to our annual dinner. There is no evidence of our lecture on Meccano by Frank Smith, looking back we decided that this lecture was in fact the year before, but this did highlight a problem. If an event does not appear on the calendar of forthcoming events it is automatically removed from the new website. Mr. Shergill will ask Kally to archive past events so this no longer happens. Mr. Toulson asked, via email, that in future if he is not present at a lecture / visit that someone should take a few notes so that it can be reported on the website. Mr. Kibler agreed to do this or in his absence Mr. Blakeley will stand in.
12. Golf. 2013 tournament is arranged for the 4th July at Wetherby Golf Club.
13. Annual Dinner. Mr. Rogers reported that invitations have gone out to the Lord Mayor and his Consort requesting that they arrive promptly at 7.00pm. He has written out a programme of events and emphasised the importance of keeping things moving. He commented that last year some of the members left before the main speaker got up because everything seemed to drag on. This year we have a prestigious speaker that people want to see. We will probably need to position a projector in the middle of the dining room, on a stand, to get it high enough to project the presentation on to a screen, we need to find where we can hire the stand and screen. It was suggested that although our former corporate members no longer pay subscriptions we should still ask them if they would like to book tables to our dinner. Their presence boosts numbers and is a good opportunity for them to entertain their customers. Mr. Rogers will contact Doosan Babcock and Mr. Yates will speak to CMB and also David Barton at Leeds University to see if he can persuade them to book a table. Mr. Murray will send out the flyer to our membership with the menu and application for dinner tickets attached. He will also send a copy of the flyer to the Welding and Joiners Institute. Mr. Yates will contact Keighley Association of Engineers and see if he can persuade their members to support our dinner. Mr. Rogers will contact York Association of Engineers. If Mr. Rogers is to continue organising the Annual Dinner in the future he would like an assistant with a view to them taking over after the 150th Anniversary Dinner in three years time. Mr. Shergill agreed to do this next year. Mr. Rogers suggested that rather than abandon the dinner after the 150th we should try adapt it to become more of a member’s dinner.
14. Lecture Venue. Mr. Yates feels we should have one prestige lecture at Leeds University annually and we could have a free lecture theatre in the Civil Engineering block.
Any other Business. Having no other business Mr. Shergill closed the meeting.
……………………………………………President. ……………….. Date