THE LEEDS ASSOCIATION OF ENGINEERS Minutes of the Council Meeting held at 7.30pm on Thursday 14th May 2026 at The Corner House Club Leeds.
1. Attendance. G. Roper in the chair with J. Aldersley, M. Murray, C. Pinder, H. Soutar, A. Kibler, S. Wilkinson and I. Blakeley.
2. Apologies for absence. G.Toulson, I. Auty, M. Golubevs , A. Rogers, J. Bentley, S. Stacey and R. Town .
3. Minutes of the Previous meeting dated 2nd April 2026 were approved & signed.
4. Matters Arising. None.
5. Treasurers Report. Mr. Kibler reported the following transactions that have occurred since our last council meeting.
| Date | Transaction | Debit | Credit |
| 07/Apr/26 | Dinner – Guest of Sam Wilkinson | – | 35.00 |
| 07/Apr/26 | Dinner – Howard Kingswell | – | 70.00 |
| 07/Apr/26 | Subs – Howard Kingswell | – | 20.00 |
| 08/Apr/26 | Student Dinner – Ben King | – | 25.00 |
| 09/Apr/26 | Student Dinner – C. Pinder | – | 25.00 |
| 10/Apr/26 | Student Dinner – H. Soutar x 2 | – | 50.00 |
| 20/Apr/26 | Dinner Gratuities paid by A. Kibler | 80.00 | – |
| 29/Apr/26 | Bank Charges | 6.80 | – |
| 06/May/26 | Payment for Annual Dinner – The Manor | 1510.00 | – |
Balance of Accounts was reported but not published here. He concluded by highlighting the shortfalls in our expenditure. This included a £188.60 deficit due to expenses exceeding income and a further loss of £319.96 at the Annual Dinner where we supplied three free meals, subsidised our student members meals and tipped the serving staff. He said it would be good to know how much we are expecting from subscriptions that are still outstanding as some members are very late with their payments.
6. Correspondence. Mr. Aldersley has attempted to contact Wilson Power Solutions and N G Bailey of Bradford but is still awaiting a response. He said Bradford College have opened a new unit so he will try and arrange a visit. Mr. Toulson has requested more information on the forthcoming visit to Finning UK (Caterpillar) so he can update the website. Mr. Tilley one of our members has sent his updated contact details and Lionel Scrupps has said he would prefer to pay future subscriptions by standing order.
7. Membership. We have an application for membership from Thomas Irish (IMBE) Institute of Medical & Biological Engineering. He is proposed by Mr. Soutar and seconded by Mr. Aldersley. His membership is to be ratified at the next meeting of the membership. We discussed the lack of participation by many of the members, Mr. Soutar suggested sending out a survey along with the events flyer asking what would encourage people to attend more events. We have tried this before and received very little response to the survey. We have been asked whether retired members could buy life membership at a reduced price. Mr. Kibler said he felt this might be acceptable but should only be available to retired members who had paid a full membership fee for perhaps 10 years. This needs to be discussed further when more members of council are present and if agreed would need to be put to the membership at the AGM.
8. Orion Project “The Mars Rover”. Mr. Soutar (student member of Leeds Association of Engineers and Director of the project) told us they are due to start manufacturing soon. They have just received a large consignment of fasteners and materials. He said they currently have 49 members of the group. The members are split into two teams that are working on two different projects/competitions. Each of the teams has a lead engineer overseeing the project. He said it is quite difficult to manage because they have students moving out on placements or who are graduating, so they will need to recruit again in September.
9. Current Programme. The current session is drawing to an end with the annual church service in May followed by the visit to Finning UK (Caterpillar) on 2nd June and the Petanque/Boules event at the end of June. The golf tournament is organised for the 2nd July.
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 need to fill the program for events, starting in September 2026 with the AGM and a talk from our president Mr. Roper about an Ornamental Turning Lathe. We have the opportunity to visit Reliance Gears on the outskirts of Huddersfield but no fixed date. We need to contact Siddall & Hilton, Brighouse (wire mesh fencing), to confirm if the offer of a second visit is still available and also to follow up our contact with Greyhound Box Company, Leeds, who also offered us a factory visit. We are hopeful of finally securing the visit to Sulzer at Morley, but we also need to find some lectures. We particularly need to find speakers on technical subjects as we want to bring in more student members into the association. Mr. Soutar has offered to give us a talk next session on whatever project he is doing for his Masters Degree. We need to explore what lectures might be available through our links with Leeds University.
11. Website. The website is up to date. Mr. Toulson refreshes it with new articles submitted by the membership when they become available. Mr. Soutar asked whether it might be possible for potential members to sign up online and pay their membership fee at that point. This needs discussing at a further council meeting when Mr. Toulson is available to discuss how it might be done.
12. Golf. Mr. Stacey advised us by email that the golf notice has been sent out and is also available on the website. He will ask individuals to send their monies to him and he will do a bank transfer for the accumulated amount to avoid LAE (Leeds Association of Engineers) paying bank charges. The date of the tournament is Thursday 2nd July 2026 at Leeds Golf Club.
13. Annual Dinner. Mr. Roper thanked Mr. Kibler for his fantastic effort in running the Dinner for the last seven years. This has not been easy as members often leave it until the last minute to book. Mr. Kibler said we need to decide what format the dinner should take and confirm a venue and date for the event as soon as possible. Venues are often fully booked a year in advance. We should avoid the Easter Bank Holiday weekend otherwise getting members to attend will be even more difficult. Mr. Soutar said he has experience in organising events for students at Leeds University so offered to take on the role of Dinner Secretary. Mr. Kibler said he will send a copy of the spreadsheet he created to record attendance and menu requests. Mr. Soutar said he will contact The Manor at Drighlington (recent dinner venue) and a possible alternative venue to see what is available in terms of menu, price and availability around our preferred date.
14. Annual Church Service. Mr. Roper our president did the reading. He commented that only seven of our members attended the service. Perhaps this is due to us not offering a free meal at a local public house as we have done in recent years to encourage attendance. We might revisit that decision before the next service.
15. Student Award. Mr. Pinder suggested that the student award should go to Ben King. This was agreed by council. We need to decide on an appropriate prize.
Any other Business. Mr. Murray said he is hoping that the Petanque Club at Heckmondwike is available for the Solstice Event, this will be confirmed by email to the membership. Having no other business Mr. Roper closed the meeting.
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