THE LEEDS ASSOCIATION OF ENGINEERS
Minutes of the Council Meeting held at 7.15pm on Thursday 9th May 2024 at the Cornerhouse Club, Leeds.
1. Attendance. J. Aldersley in the chair with M. Murray, G. Roper, A. Kibler, I. Scholes, J. Bentley, S. Stacey, B. Yates and I. Blakeley.
2. Apologies for absence. G. Toulson, J. Burton, R. Town and H. Soutar.
3. Minutes of the Previous Meeting, dated 4th April 2024 were approved & signed.
4. Matters Arising. Mr. Bentley said he had not been able to contact Mr. Hegarty since our last meeting.
5. Treasurers Report. Mr. Kibler briefly summarised his report that had been sent prior to the meeting by email. The full list of transactions is listed below.
| Date | Transaction | Debit | Credit |
| 04/Apr/24 | Dinner –R. Town | – | 90.00 |
| 04/Apr/24 | Dinner – L. Murray | – | 60.00 |
| 05/Apr/24 | Dinner – Richard Newsham | – | 60.00 |
| 05/Apr/24 | Dinner – J. Shergill | – | 30.00 |
| 09/Apr/24 | A4 Paper (A. Kibler for menu cards) | 5.89 | – |
| 10/Apr/24 | Dinner – P. Buxton | – | 60.00 |
| 17/Apr/24 | Payment – The Manor Golf Club | 1860.00 | – |
| 22/Apr/24 | Dinner – F. Atkinson | – | 60.00 |
| 22/Apr/24 | Dinner – (Tips for waitresses) | 40.00 | – |
| 22/Mar/24 | Dinner (Free drinks for guests) | 103.40 | 60.00 |
| 28/Apr/24 | Methodist Church (room hire April) | 50.00 | – |
| 29/Apr/24 | Dinner – E. Battye (cheque) | – | 60.00 |
| 07/May/24 | Deposit for 2025 Dinner | 100.00 | – |
Balance of Accounts was reported but not published here.
Mr Kibler commented that the payment of subscriptions has been very slow this year, perhaps this might be because we no longer send out the request for payment with a pre- paid envelope.
6. Correspondence. Mr. Aldersley has tried to make contact with someone at Northern Rail with the hope of securing a site visit.
7. Membership. Mr. Murray said the picture is not a bright one. A number of people have not paid their subscriptions for 3 years so have now been removed from the membership list. He commented that some people have submitted applications and having been accepted as a member have not paid the membership fee. Members do not respond to emails for visits and this makes it very difficult to organise and co-ordinate events. We briefly discussed alternative methods of contacting the membership, even the possibility of traditional mail but of course his has a cost implication which we all need to think about before making any decision.
8. Current Programme. Our next event is the Annual Church Service which is normally followed by a meal at the Palace Public House for those who attend (members and their partner) however, this year the service coincides with the championship play –offs for the football and Leeds United are involved. The Palace will not be doing meals. We discussed alternatives and decided our best chance at the moment is probably The Manor Golf Club at Drighlington (our recent annual dinner venue). Mr. Murray will contact the members who normally attend. The visit to the Anderton Boat Lift is currently in abeyance waiting for sufficient response from the membership to make the visit worthwhile. The Solstice Walk will be replaced by a Boule competition at a venue in Heckmondwike. Final details of this are to be confirmed when we know the level of interest. The only other event currently planned is the Annual Golf Competition.
9. Next Session. Mr. Yates will give us a talk titled “Engines for Engineers” which we plan to be our first lecture of the new session in September 2024. We have the offer of the visit to Leeds Welding Company which we will try organise as our October event. Neil Cobbold will try arrange a visit to ‘Caterpillar’ and we have a visit to Siddall & Hilton (limited to eight people) which we hope to do in November. Mr. Blakeley will speak to his former work colleague Andrew Ross of Hunslet Engine Company and try to persuade him to give us a talk about the scratch built model of the Hunslet factory he is currently making. Mr. Aldersley will talk to our three apprentices and try to persuade them to give us a short presentation on what it is like to be a young engineer in the 2020s. He will also contact the Middleton Railway to see if we can visit their workshops. Mr. Yates suggested organising a visit to the Anson Engine Museum at Poynton.
10. Website. In the absence of Mr. Toulson we had no formal report. However, it was agreed everything is working well. New content has been added which was procured by Mr. Kibler from one of his former work colleagues about a life in engineering in America and it is well worth a read.
11. Golf. Mr. Stacey reported that everything is in place and he has nothing further to do until early June. He will ask participants to pay by bank transfer if possible, referenced with their name & golf payment. Unfortunately we have lost another sponsor, Rob Johnson has now been retired from Craftsman tools for 3 years. They have sponsored the event for probably 30 years. He replied to his e-mail by saying that he no longer has any influence at Craftsman Tools, so is unable to sponsor any more. He is not available to play this year. A new player, Chris Harding, has appeared and is taking part this year he responded to the flyer sent out by Mr. Murray. There are 39 players for the main afternoon event, with 27 for the morning team event so no further places are available. We have to reduce the prize vouchers due to the loss of sponsorship. (£40, £30, £20 for the top 3 places, and £20 for two of the par 3s, a box of 12 golf balls for 2 more, and a Leeds Golf Club voucher for a free 4-ball visit for the others). He will visit the golf club in early June and sort out the menu for the evening meal. He will let non – players know the menu and advise the cost to attend. It was raised that all the places seem to be pre-allocated to people who have attended in the past, leaving very little opportunity for members of Leeds Association of Engineers.
12. Annual Dinner. Mr. Kibler told us that the dinner was attended by 62 people although it took a good number of phone calls to achieve that number. Everyone seemed impressed with the new venue, and the food was enjoyed by all. He has already booked the venue for next year’s Annual Dinner but the only date available is the 29th March. Next year is the 160th Anniversary of the Leeds Association of Engineers so he suggested that we could make this a special event. He proposed that we make it free for our members to attend, but this needs to be discussed at a later date. Mr. Murray said he had been to an event where a magician circulated the tables doing close quarter magic and this went down very well with the audience. We decided to investigate the cost of doing this at our Anniversary Dinner. Mr. Murray has the name of a magician who he will contact. Mr. Kibler advised us that we lost £491 on this year’s Annual Dinner.
13. Annual Church Service. After our discussion at the AGM Mr. Aldersley contacted the vicar of Leeds Parish Church, who said he will be very happy to maintain the tradition of hosting our Annual Church Service. He said unfortunately he was unable to attend our Annual Dinner because he had a prior arrangement. Mr. Town (past president) will do the bible reading.
14. Trustees. Mr. Yates asked whether he needs to attend the bank to be recorded as a trustee having been elected at the 2024 AGM. It was agreed that all we have done in the past is send a copy of the AGM where a new trustee is elected.
Any other Business. Having no other business Mr. Aldersley closed the meeting.
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