THE LEEDS ASSOCIATION OF ENGINEERS
Minutes of the Council Meeting held at 7.30 pm on Thursday 6th November 2025 at The Corner House Club Leeds.
1. Attendance. J. Aldersley in the chair with G. Roper, A. Kibler, J. Bentley, A. Rogers, S. Wilkinson, M. Murray, G. Toulson, H. Soutar, S. Stacey, R. Town and I. Blakeley.
2. Apologies for absence. J. Burton, I. Auty, C. Pinder, N. Burchall and M. Golubevs.
3. Minutes of the Previous Meeting, dated 2nd October 2025 were approved & signed.
4. Matters Arising. None. However, Mr. Kibler pointed out that after the latest AGM in September, the incoming president should now take over in September to align with the financial year.
5. Treasurers Report. Mr. Kibler reported that a steady flow of membership subscriptions has been received, including 3 new life members and M. A. Ford have renewed their corporate membership. He said we have received approximately £770 at the moment. He is holding the cheques he has received so he can pay them in one transaction therefore avoiding additional bank charges. Transactions since the last meeting are listed below.
| Date | Transaction | Debit | Credit |
| 06/Oct/25 | Subs – M. Murray | – | 20.00 |
| 20/Oct/25 | Subs – A. Kibler | – | 20.00 |
| 27/Oct/25 | Subs – J. Kelsall | – | 20.00 |
| 27/Oct/25 | Subs – Mike Bate | – | 20.00 |
| 27/Oct/25 | Subs – S. Gledhill | – | 20.00 |
| 28/Oct/25 | Subs – Chris Harding | – | 20.00 |
| 28/Oct/25 | Subs – W. Jagger | – | 20.00 |
| 28/Oct/25 | Subs – M. A. Ford | – | 100.00 |
| 28/Oct/25 | Subs – John Pease | – | 150.00 |
| 28/Oct/25 | Subs – Ian Mackay | – | 150.00 |
| 29/Oct/25 | Subs – D. Barton | – | 50.00 |
| 29/Oct/25 | Subs – N. Cobbold | – | 20.00 |
| 29/Oct/25 | Subs – Peter Baker | – | 20.00 |
| 30/Oct/25 | Subs – E. Atkinson | – | 20.00 |
| 31/Oct/25 | Subs – C. Whitley | – | 20.00 |
| 03/Nov/25 | Subs – Chris Stocks | – | 20.00 |
| 04/Nov/25 | Subs – John Aldersley and Vas | – | 40.00 |
| 04/Nov/25 | Subs – S. Stacey | – | 20.00 |
Balance of Accounts was reported but not published here.
6. Correspondence. Mr. Kibler said he has spoken to Neil Cobbold (Leeds Association member) regarding a daytime visit to Finnings/Caterpillar. He said the visit is still available but it would be better in the summer months. Mr. Toulson has been trying to contact Frank Smith a gentleman who has given us talks on a number of subjects in the past, he got no reply, but we know when we last heard from him that he was having issues with his health. Mr. Aldersley has tried making contact with Leeds University but they are slow in responding. He contacted Bradford University and did get a positive response which he will follow up. He also contacted UTC Leeds (University Technical College). They are a college who take on and educate young engineers. They are closely linked to industry and provide a first class education to their students who have to go through a selection process in order to secure a place. Neil Copsey, Employer Engagement Officer responded. Mr. Aldersley and Mr. Roper will arrange to visit to discuss how we can engage with them. Ben Wilson of MPM Mouldings contacted Mr. Aldersley to thank us for our visit to their factory. Mr. Pinder has been in Coventry to discuss world skills and Mr Aldersley has been in touch with the Leeds Manufacturing Alliance to discuss how we might become more involved.
7. Membership. Mr. Murray said there are no new applications this month. He said that when he sent out the request for members to renew their subscriptions he got two members taking life membership at a cost of £150. M. A. Ford have renewed their corporate membership and paid £100. Mr. Murray said we could consider reviewing the cost of life membership for our retired members, but Mr. Soutar said we should consider carefully before reducing the price bearing in mind the average age of the membership. It would have a significant negative impact on our income if a number of retired members took up the offer.
8. Orion Project “The Mars Rover”. Mr. Roper asked Mr. Soutar what the benefit is to Leeds Association of Engineers (LAE) in sponsoring the Orion Project. The response was that we will get to engage with the student community and this gives us a foothold in Leeds University. We agreed by a show of hands to give £500 to the project. This matches the funding provided by the university to the project. Mr. Soutar will provide details of a bank account that is in his name that will be used solely for the purpose of the Orion Project and will show evidence of spending to the LAE Council if requested. This method of managing finances was agreed because it is a very long and complicated process to set up an account within the university.
9. Current Programme. Mr. Aldersley has been talking to John Crabtree of Carnaud Metalbox at Wortley who has agreed to allow us to visit. However, we need to confirm details. Potentially this will be at the end of November. We do not have anything planned for December but that is not an issue, people are too busy with Christmas. We are hopeful of visiting Sulzer (Morley) in January 2026, but this is subject to their building work being completed. Mr. Aldersley will liaise with his contact at Sulzer. Mr. Wilkinson is pursuing his contact at Airedale International Air Conditioning to get us either a visit or a lecture. We have the offer of a visit to Millers Oils but this would be a daytime visit. It was suggested that we might look at Probus. They have clubs all over the country and have events planned up to two years in advance. Mr. Toulson said John Pankhurst of Keighley Association of Engineers may have a number of useful contacts. He will ring him and ask if he can help.
10. Next Session. We need ideas for where to go and subjects/proposals for lectures. Mr. Soutar offered to give us two talks, one on the Orion Project and the second one will be on the project he undertakes for his Master’s Degree.
11. Website. Mr. Toulson has brought the website up to date and has posted the reports on places we have visited. We have agreed to give Kally Shergill a free entry in our golf tournament in 2026 for his work on our website. We are looking for someone to act as an understudy to Mr. Toulson for the webmaster duties.
12. Golf. Mr. Stacey said there is nothing to report regarding the 2026 Golf Tournament as it is too early. He sought confirmation that the free golf day promised to Kally Shergill will come from Leeds Association funds and is not to be raised by him from the fees of paying entrants. This was agreed.
13. Annual Dinner. Nothing further to report. Mr. Kibler said he is unable to get a price until January at the earliest.
14. Annual Church Service. Mr. Aldersley will contact the church and give them Mr. Roper’s details so they can send him the reading they wish him to do.
15. Journal. Mr. Bentley passed on a CD to Mr. Kibler so that he can transfer the information onto a USB stick for future use.
16. Morley Church Hall Closure. Mr. Aldersley is going to visit WDS Components tomorrow to see whether they are able to provide us access to one of their rooms for lectures in the future. Of course this depends on there being a nightshift and whether it affects their insurance arrangements. Mr. Soutar suggested that it might be possible to use the Library Public House. This is situated close to Leeds University and would have the added advantage of attracting the engineering students. We would need to check whether we could use their upstairs room and possible charges.
Any other Business. Mr. Murray said when sending out emails for subscriptions he had three bounce back all of whom work at Kirkstall Engineering. Having no other business Mr. Aldersley closed the meeting.
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……………………………………………President.……………………………….….. Date