THE LEEDS ASSOCIATION OF ENGINEERS
Minutes of the Council Meeting held at 7.30pm on Thursday 12th May 2016 at the Cornerhouse Club Leeds.
1. Attendance. B. Yates, President in the chair with, J. Aldersley, I. Scholes, M. Murray, A. Rogers, S. Stacey, A. Kibler, H. Kingswell , G. Toulson and I. Blakeley.
2. Apologies for absence., J. Bentley & J. Shergill.
3. Minutes of the Previous Meeting. Dated 7th April 2016 were approved & signed.
4. Matters Arising. None.
5. Treasurers Report. Mr. Toulson read out the email received from Mr. Bentley detailing last month’s financial transactions.
Current Account
Debits
Cash for Dinner £300.00
Lord Mayor’s Charity £85.00
Headingley golf Club £1643.00
Alex dinner expenses £38.23
JCBSales for trip £600.00
Dinner Entertainers Cash £250.00
Income
Dinner cheques £100.00
JCB 425.00 Making a total contribution of £600.00
Dinner £875.00
Balance (not published in minutes)
Sue at JCB has confirmed she received the £600 cheque.
6. Correspondence. None.
7. Membership. Mr. Murray re-emphasised our need to get more members. We must all try to promote Leeds Association if we are to thrive.
8. Current Programme. The comments from the recent visit to Optare were favourable with people reporting they had enjoyed the visit. The remainder of the current programme is the annual golf tournament and the mid – summer walk. Mr. Murray said he was looking at somewhere at Allerton Bywater for the walk he would put something in the next newsletter if it was suitable. The only other visit would be the daytime visit to the JCB factory in Staffordshire. Mr. Kibler said in some respects the daytime visits are a little discouraging for the members who are still working, because they are unable to attend. This can also give the impression to any potential young members that we are an old men’s social club.
9. Next Session. Mr. Yates has 15 potential events on the programme for the next session three of which are lectures. Mr. Murray suggested a visit to a factory in Keighley who manufacture rivets, he also suggested a visit to the waste recycling facility at Cross Gates (Leeds). Mr. Yates said he will pass over his notes to Mr. Shergill who is taking charge of the programme in the next session.
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10. Website. Mr. Toulson said he had not yet had the opportunity to put the annual dinner pictures on the website. He also has a number of articles he wants to add to the website.
11. Journal. The plan is to release a new journal in September.
12. Golf. Mr. Murray will send out flyers with details of the golf day, Mr. Toulson has already put details on the website. Mr. Stacey will purchase a suitable bottle to present to Gerry Allen to thank him for his support of the golf day over the years.
13. Annual Dinner. We discussed the concerns that some members of council have that our membership have been told that this years was probably our last formal annual dinner. Mr Murray and Mr. Kibler said that if we move away from our traditional format with invites for the Rector of Leeds, the Lord Mayor and officials of kindred associations, we will never be able to go back. Mr. Rogers and Mr. Yates said they find it hard to justify running an annual dinner for so few of our members to attend. We said we need to discuss all these issues when we have more time and council members have had time to consider both sides of the argument. Mr. Rogers said running dinners in the current format is extremely hard work and is something he does not want to continue in future years. He said the hardest thing is writing all the letters which is quite frustrating when you do not get a response.
Any other Business. We agreed that the first council meeting of the new session will be on Thursday 8th September at the Headingley golf club, Mr. Stacey will organise. Having no other business Mr. Yates closed the meeting.
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