THE LEEDS ASSOCIATION OF ENGINEERS
Minutes of the Council Meeting held at 7.30 pm on Thursday 4th September 2025 at The Corner House Club, Leeds.
1. Attendance. J. Aldersley (president) in the chair with S. Stacey, G. Roper, M. Murray, A. Kibler, C. Pinder, H. Soutar & I. Auty.
2. Apologies for absence. J. Bentley, N. Burchall, A. Rogers, I. Blakeley, G. Toulson, J. Burton, M. Golubevs & R. Town.
3. Minutes of the Previous Meeting, dated 1st May 2025 were approved but not signed.
4. Matters Arising. There were no matters arising.
5. Treasurers Report. Mr. Kibler provided the council with last year’s accounts and they were discussed. The aim will be to show the accounts at the next A.G.M. and bring that forward to September 2025. This discussion was after the September event has been arranged. Mr. Kibler said the funds are looking good, with savings having been made by stopping member subsidies for events.
Balance of Accounts was reported but not published here.
6. Correspondence. Mr. Aldersley said he had still not heard back from Huddersfield University or Bradford University. He advised that he has contacted ‘Halifax Fan UK’ to enquire if we can visit but to date there has been no reply. Mr. Aldersley contacted Steve Bernie at Borg Warner in Bradford asking for information as to who to contact at the company, having asked to visit through the company’s website but had no reply as yet.
Mr. Aldersley had met up with Vas Dziombak, our Western Australia member, who is still offering a talk at some point and possible reports for the website.
7. Membership. Mr. Murray said he is in the process of signing up a new member from his Pétanque bowling club. Mr. Aldersley thanked Mr. Pinder for his part in enrolling several new members. Some discussion was had asking Messrs. Soutar, Pinder and Auty if we should increase the student membership subscription from the current £2.00 to possibly £5.00 or £10.00 with further discussion likely to determine the amount.
8. Proposed New Student of the Year Award. On hold see item 9 – Orion Project.
9. Orion Project “The Mars Rover” Mr. Soutar explained more about the project, stating it has the backing of the University of Leeds, but it is a lone project with several University of Leeds students taking part in a competition being held at Airbus helicopters HQ in Oxford. Previously Mr. Soutar had asked for sponsorship but the council treasurer initially said the association hadn’t funds available for the £300 requested. Mr. Kibler said after the accounts had been audited there are monies available. Mr. Soutar said that the funds would be used for a battery, materials and transport costs to present the project. He told council what the project could do to promote the association. A vote was taken and all voted to sponsor the project with the amount then being discussed. Mr. Kibler suggested £200. Mr. Aldersley said the initial request was for £300. Mr. Roper suggested £500, whilst Mr. Aldersley suggested a minimum of £300.
10. Current Programme. Mr. Aldersley advised that he is waiting for Sulzer to reply with regards to a visit. Our contact is Red Paley and hopefully he will come back with a response soon. Red had said yes to the visit and Mr. Aldersley had chased him up for a response last month. Ben Wilson the MD at MPM in Bramley has offered an evening visit in October. Mr. Aldersley has asked if the visit could be brought forward to September in case Sulzer cannot accommodate us. Ben had not responded to Mr. Aldersley at the time of the meeting. CMB (Carnaud Metal Box) have offered a visit in November and our contact is John Crabtree. For the New Year we discussed further visits to Reliance Gears (Robert Farrell), Greyhound Box Co. (Louise O’Brien, MD) and talks by Mr. Pinder and Mr. Soutar. Barrie Yates has also offered a talk. Mr. Aldersley suggested that we take up Millers Oils (contact: Jody Ogden) on their offer of a day visit (Monday to Wednesday), so the association can meet them, as they appear to be very interested in the LAE.
11. Next Session. Mr. Murray asked Mr. Aldersley about a potential visit to Leeds City College. Mr. Aldersley said that it was viable, stating that the Motor Vehicle department could be an excellent visit. He said he would contact the Head of Motor Vehicle, Matt Coggins, at a later stage. Mr. Aldersley asked all present to suggest ideas for events. He said he would be supporting Mr. Roper in the continued quest to look for new opportunities.
12. Website. Mr. Aldersley said Mr. Toulson was running the website well. He said it would be nice to have some help for Gordon to run the site. Mr. Aldersley suggested that Mr. Wilkinson may be of help with that. He stated Mr. Pinder’s article was good as was the obituary for Brian Firth. Mr. Aldersley requested more input from the younger members. Mr. Soutar said he would get something posted for the Mars Rover and from his trip to a university in Germany.
13. Golf. Mr. Stacey presented a report on the golf and advised that he has pre-booked for next year at Leeds Golf Club for Thursday 2nd July 2026. He reported that prices have risen slightly due to food costs but council agreed it was still excellent value. Mr. Roper thanked Mr. Stacey for all his work on the tournament. Sponsors M.A. Ford and Alan Braime were thanked for their fantastic continuous support.
14. Annual Dinner. Mr. Kibler reported that the dinner has been pre-booked for next year and all is in order, with further discussion required nearer the time.
15. Annual Church Service. Mr. Aldersley said he would organise the service nearer the date in the New Year.
16. Journal. All present wished to thank Mr. Bentley for his hard work. There would be discussions for future publication online to save postage.
Any other Business. ‘Linked In’ was brought up by Mr. Aldersley. Messrs, Pinder and Wilkinson have looked into it. Both are extremely busy and Mr. Soutar offered to help as he had set up an account recently. As Mr. Wilkinson was absent from the meeting all agreed to leave those council members to sort it out when they had time.
Mr. Murray was asked again about the proposal from a previous meeting about honorary membership. Mr. Murray said he would like Barrie Yates receive it instead of himself. We voted and all agreed it would be an excellent idea. Mr. Aldersley said he would phone Mr. Yates the next day to see if it would be accepted.
Finally, we spoke about the possibility of Messrs. Pinder, Golubevs and Auty making parts for Mr. Soutar’s project. Mr. Pinder said he was having discussions soon with David Baggaley who is involved with the Leeds Manufacturing Alliance, to see if they could bring World Skills to Leeds and secure help from Mastercam and the machine tool manufacturer Mori Seki along with our corporate member M.A. Ford, and now Cameron Pinder sponsor. Mr. Pinder suggested if this idea ran he would help Mr. Soutar on the Orion (Mars Rover) project.
Mr. Aldersley also spoke about the LAE having some links with David Baggaley and trying to get Millers Oils to support the LAE. He said it is all on a slow burner. The main task is to give Mr. Soutar money to support young engineers when they need it (soon).
The president closed the meeting and thanked the council for their continuous support.
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