THE LEEDS ASSOCIATION OF ENGINEERS
Minutes of the Council Meeting held at 7.30pm on Thursday 5th March 2015 at the Cornerhouse Club Leeds.
1. Attendance. B. J. Yates (Vice-President) in the chair with, G. I. Scholes, K. J. Hegarty, J. S. Shergill, M. S. Murray, A. Rogers, J. Aldersley, J. Bentley and G. Toulson.
2. Apologies for absence. A. Kibler, I. A. Blakeley, and J. McClarty.
3. Minutes of the Previous Meeting, dated 5th February 2015 were, approved & signed by the Vice-President.
4. Matters Arising. Mr. Kibler had sent a message via email that the Church Commemorative Plaque has been ordered and will be ready in about three weeks. Additionally, he advised that he had attempted to contact the new Canon at St. Peter’s Church regarding the reading at the church service but as yet there was no reply.
5. Treasurers Report. Mr. Bentley made the following report.
Current Account Bank statement – Not as yet received.
Cheques cashed:-
Nigel MacKnight – Quicksilver sponsorship £100.00
Two cheques payable to Leeds City College to the value of £33.00 and £412.50
Grand Total:- £545.50
Forward advice of Receipts:-
3 1/2% War Stock (Account Closure) of £2160.53 is due to be paid on 9th March.
3 1/2% Conversion Stock (Account Closure) of £275.00 would be refunded during April.
Mr. Bentley raised the subject of insuring the Braime Golf Trophy. Mr. Hegarty advised that the premium would be costly for the association to insure it and in the past winners have been asked to insure the trophy on their home insurance. This was not the safest form of cover with the onus being on the winner to cover the silverware. A replica trophy had been discussed previously but Mr. Hegarty thought that would be a waste of association funds. Mr. Murray proposed that Hon. Golf Secretary, Steve Stacey, be asked if he would hold the trophy for most of the year and Mr. Aldersley proposed that if he agreed we should reimburse him for the additional cost on his home insurance. Mr. Hegarty offered to ask Mr. Stacey if he would be prepared to insure the trophy. Mr. Murray suggested that Leeds Civic Hall might be approached to store the silver trophy in their secure collection, providing we could access it for presentations.
Mr. Bentley advised that he will ask our external auditor Graham Mallinson if he will again audit the accounts although he had said previously he was getting a ‘bit long in the tooth’ to be doing the job. Mr. Bentley said that we should propose at the next AGM to appoint an independent examiner, in place of Mr. Mallinson, to examine the accounts as is required by the Rules of the Association. Mr. Hegarty said he would see if his son would be interested in offering this service to the association.
6. Church / Commemorative Plaque. Mr. Kibler had advised by email the latest status of the plaque and contact with the church. (See Matters Arising above.)
7. Correspondence. Nil.
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8. Membership. Mr. Murray advised that he had one possible new member and would advise details later. Mr. Aldersley was pursuing corporate membership of his employer, Horton & Armitage Ltd., and asked if an invoice in the sum of £100.00 could be provided for their accounts. Mr. Murray confirmed that an invoice could be produced when required.
9. Current Programme. Mr. Yates advised that we needed to confirm details of the forthcoming church service, proposed for Sunday 10th May. Both Mr. Yates and Mr. Rogers had sent correspondence to the church but neither had received a reply. Mr. Yates raised the subject of a visit to ‘JCB’. He had so far collected 15 names for the visit and informed that the cost would be £15.00 per head. The date for the visit was still to be confirmed following consultation with the company. Mr. Yates also proposed a possible further visit to Poynton Engine Museum in Cheshire and this would be discussed later.
10. Next Session. Mr. Yates said he has potentially 10 to 12 visits or lectures lined up for the next session but these are all subject to confirmation. Mr. Murray proposed a visit to the Stanley Ferry Workshops (Canal & River Trust) as a possible visit for next year. They are currently building new canal lock gates.
11. Website. Mr. Toulson reported that two invoices for operating the website are due soon. Annual Hosting costing £35.99 is due to be paid by 10th April. The Domain Name ‘leeds-engineers.org.uk’ is due to expire on 4th May and the renewal cost is £11.99 for the next two years. Mr. Yates commented that he thought the costs were most reasonable for the services provided. Mr. Toulson advised that he would settle the invoices with his credit card and then request reimbursement from the Treasurer after providing invoices for the accounts.
12. Journal. Nothing to report at the moment but Mr. Bentley advised that he would require council member names and a record of events for the period covered by the journal. This was not urgent at the moment and would be investigated later. Mr. Murray commented that we ought to be producing a journal for the forthcoming 150th anniversary celebration of the association.
13. Golf. Nothing to report for the moment. Insuring the Braime Golf Trophy had already been discussed previously during the Treasurer’s Report. The 2015 Golf Tournament will be held on Monday 29th June.
14. Annual Dinner. Mr Rogers advised that he had recently contacted past lecturers to invite them to the dinner. He had also corresponded with Mr. Jagger (proposed guest speaker). The Lord Mayor had already responded positively and had provided his menu choices. Mr. Rogers had written to St. Peter’s Church to see if they were sending a representative but he has so far not received a reply. Hull, York and Keighley associations have all been contacted. The new venue for the dinner, Headingley Golf Club, was discussed in particular with regard to capacity. Mr. Yates said he would consider inviting a selection of friends but Mr. Rogers said he should not ‘go out of the way’ to invite more guests as capacity is limited. Mr. Hegarty confirmed that the capacity was comfortably 80 to 90 diners and that in the past he had attended dinners with these sort of numbers. Mr. Rogers said that so far he was happy with the way the dinner arrangements were coming together and requested that anyone wishing to attend should inform him as soon as possible.
15. Move of Council Meeting Venue. We agreed to continue to have our council meetings at the Corner House Club until the end of this session. Mr. Yates proposed that we have a ‘floating’ system whereby we meet at different venues each month. General opinion around the table was that the Cornerhouse Club was the most suitable venue for council meetings.
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Any other Business. Having no other business Mr. Yates closed the meeting.
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……………………………………………President. ……………….. Date