THE LEEDS ASSOCIATION OF ENGINEERS
Minutes of the Council Meeting held at 7.15pm on Thursday 2nd October 2014 at the Cornerhouse Club Leeds.
1. Attendance. A. Kibler (President) in the chair with J. Aldersley, A. Rogers, M. Murray, B. Yates, J. Shergill and I. Blakeley.
2. Apologies for absence. J. McClarty, G. Toulson, I. Scholes and K. Hegarty.
3. Minutes of the Previous Meeting, dated 4th September 2014 were, approved & signed.
4. Matters Arising. None.
Treasurers Report. Mr. Bentley reported the following transactions :-
Balance Previous :- £18.41
Paid Out :- A. Kibler £15.37 (Stamps).
Paid In :- Wetherby Engineering £40.00
Savings Account Balance – No longer disclosed in Council minutes.
5. Church Commemorative Plaque and retirement of Tony Bundock. Mr. Kibler said the reading for the annual church service is already arranged. He is waiting to hear from the diocese for approval of the plaque. We discussed Tony Bundock’s forthcoming retirement and agreed that it would be nice to take Tony out for a meal to celebrate the occasion. Tony has been connected to our association for a number of years through Leeds Parish Church. We agreed that we should buy Tony a beer tankard which we will present to him at the meal, Mr. Kibler will purchase the tankard and get it engraved. He will contact Tony to arrange a suitable time / date for the meal and circulate details to council members. We hope to get as many council members to attend as possible, Tony has been a good friend to our association.
6. Correspondence. Mr. Kibler has written to every member of Leeds Association of Engineers asking their views on our falling numbers, and how they think we could improve. He received nine replies which he read out at the meeting. The consensus of opinion seemed to be that we are doing nothing wrong and unfortunately our falling attendance is due to our ageing membership and lack of young engineers coming into the industry. We were encouraged to keep trying to promote our organisation as we always have.
7. Membership. Mr Aldersley gave us some encouraging news, he said that Blythe McKena is still interested in joining us and that his new employer is interested in becoming a corporate member of our association.
8. Current Programme. We have just one more space to fill in the current programme, having just filled the 18th December vacancy with a short visit to Nu-Swift in Halfax to be followed by a pub quiz. We still need to book something for the ladies evening. Mr. Murray suggested the possibility of a cooking demonstration, he thought that Thomas Danby catering college might be able to help and said he would ask (possibly for January 2015). Mr Yates has been talking to JCB in Utoxeter regarding a factory visit. They can accommodate us but this would be a daytime visit, possibly a Friday. The visit would cost our members £22 / head, Mr. Murray to advertise the possibility on our circular and gauge the response. We have been unable to book our usual Cleckheaton venue for the October lecture, Mr Yates will see if the Huntsman at Cleckheaton have a room we can hire.
9. Next Session. Nothing to Report.
10. Website. Nothing to report. However Mr. Kibler did say he was unable to get the Council minutes for last year, he said he will ask Mr. Toulson if they have been removed or just hidden. Mr. Rogers said that Mr. Toulson has expressed concern that he has not got the programme to post on the website.
11. Journal. Nothing to report.
12. Golf. Nothing to report. Other than comments that the presentation of the trophies last time was messy with people arriving and eating at staggered intervals.
13. Annual Dinner. We discussed the possibility of moving the Annual Dinner to a Saturday evening and whether the dignatories would attend. We discussed the possibility of going to Oulton Hall but this would be very expensive. We have been quoted £20 / plate at Headingley Golf Club which we feel would be a good venue, Cleckheaton Golf Club have quoted £15.50 per head for a three course meal, but the Mayor of Leeds is not keen on attending our dinner at a Bradford venue. The date we have pencilled in for the dinner is 17th / 18th April 2015. The preference of the council is that the dignatories do attend but we did agree that the overriding reason for running the dinners is for our members. We voted to give a free dinner in 2016 to any of our members who attend the 2015 dinner (2016 being our 150th Anniversary).
Any other Business. Having no other business Mr. Kibler closed the meeting.
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