THE LEEDS ASSOCIATION OF ENGINEERS
Minutes of the Council Meeting held at 7.00 pm on Thursday 5th January 2023 at the Corner House Club Leeds LS17 6QE
1. Attendance. A. Kibler in the chair with, B. Yates, M. Murray, I. Scholes, H. Soutar, G. Roper and I. Blakeley.
2. Apologies for absence. S. Stacey, J. Aldersley, G. Toulson, J. Bentley, A. Rogers and J. Burton.
3. Minutes of the Previous Meeting. Dated 1st December 2022 were approved and signed.
4. Matters Arising. None.
5. Treasurers Report. Mr. Kibler went through the financial report that he had supplied on email which included transactions from December 2022. He went on to explain that now Virgin Money have bought out Yorkshire Bank we have been moved onto a business account which means we are now subject to a bank charge of £6.50 per month, this allows us nine free transactions per month. After this we are charged thirty pence for each subsequent transaction, this includes our membership paying their subscriptions or buying tickets for our annual dinner. We did discuss moving our accounts to another bank but thought this would then cause issues with having two appointed people being able to authorise cheques etc. Mr. Kibler closed his report by saying we are still waiting for an invoice from the Church at Morley for use of their meeting room for our lectures.
| Date | Details Of Transaction | Debit | Credit | |
| 1/Nov/22 | Subs – Chris Stocks | 0.00 | 15.00 | |
| 7/Nov/22 | Subs – Ross Town | 0.00 | 15.00 | |
| 7/Nov/22 | Subs – Mike Bate | 0.00 | 15.00 | |
| 7/Nov/22 | Subs – Neil Cobbold | 0.00 | 15.00 | |
| 8/Nov/22 | Subs – Barrie Yates | 0.00 | 15.00 | |
| 8/Nov/22 | Subs – Tony Mathers | 0.00 | 15.00 | |
| 8/Nov/22 | Subs – Robert Hazeldine | 0.00 | 15.00 | |
| 8/Nov/22 | Subs – E Atkinson | 0.00 | 15.00 | |
| 8/Nov/22 | Subs – C Whitley | 0.00 | 15.00 | |
| 8/Nov/22 | Subs – Steve Stacey & A Baime | 0.00 | 30.00 | |
| 9/Nov/22 | Subs – Ian Blakeley | 0.00 | 15.00 | |
| 10/Nov/22 | Subs – Andrew Kibler | 0.00 | 15.00 | |
| 10/Nov/22 | Subs – A J Davies | 0.00 | 15.00 | |
| 10/Nov/22 | Subs – M Pollard | 0.00 | 15.00 | |
| 10/Nov/22 | Subs – G D Bond | 0.00 | 15.00 | |
| 11/Oct/22 | Stamps – M Murray | 47.60 | 0.00 | |
| 11/Oct/22 | Subs – M Murray | 0.00 | 15.00 | |
| 14/Oct/22 | Subs – J Kelsall – Std order made | 0.00 | 15.00 | |
| 14/Nov/22 | Subs – M Whitwhead | 0.00 | 15.00 | |
| 15/Nov/22 | Subs – G P Garland | 0.00 | 15.00 | |
| 15/Nov/22 | Subs – J Pease by cheque | 0.00 | 15.00 | |
| 17/Nov/22 | Subs – John Miller | 0.00 | 15.00 | |
| Subs – Chris Harding | 0.00 | 30.00 | ||
| 21/Nov/22 | Subs – R Fletch | 0.00 | 15.00 | |
| 23/Nov/22 | B Yates – Shield re-engraving | 12.60 | 0.00 | |
| 30/Nov/22 | Subs – Ford Europe | 0.00 | 100.00 | |
| Subs – Eddie Battye & David Bannister | 0.00 | 30.00 | ||
| 1/Dec/22 | Subs – Lionel Scrupps by cheque | 0.00 | 15.00 | |
| Subs – Ralph Tilley by cheque | 0.00 | 15.00 | ||
| Subs – Tony Wiese by cheque | 0.00 | 15.00 | ||
| Subs – John Scullen by cheque | 0.00 | 15.00 | ||
| 2/Dec/22 | Subs – Bill Jagger by cheque | 0.00 | 15.00 | |
| 6/Dec/22 | Subs – John Finn by cheque | 0.00 | 15.00 | |
| 12/Dec/22 | Subs – T Mathers & refund – paid in Nov | 15.00 | 15.00 | |
| 16/Dec/23 | Subs – M Whitehead | 0.00 | 15.00 | |
| 29/Dec/23 | Bank charges | 9.50 | 0.00 |
6. Correspondence. Mr Roper has been in contact with Professor Ian Greaves who has agreed to give us a lecture but a date is yet to be agreed. Mr. Roper and Mr. Murray have both been in contact with Drakes (manufacturer of special fibres) but have not been able to speak to the person who can authorise a visit.
7. Membership. Nothing to report.
8. Current Programme. Mr. Soutar (new council member) will provide information to Mr. Murray about his lecture for the flyer. This content will also be sent to Mr. Toulson to enable him to advertise the event on our website. Mr. Roper is to investigate the possibility of us having a daytime visit to a company called Garsides in Halifax who have a big planer milling machine. Mr. Kibler has spoken to Neil, a member of the Leeds Association, who has a private pilot’s license and flies out of Sherburn airport, with a view to organising a visit by our membership. Note this would have to be late spring or early summer.
9. Next Session. Nothing to report. Mr. Murray said he is concerned that our membership do not seem to be responding to his emails and that attendance is down at our recent lectures. In the recent past we have always had a solid core of members who turn up to all the lectures but some of those faces have been missing recently.
Mr. Yates said we could visit the Anderton Boat Lift and he also has a contact there who would be prepared to give us a talk / lecture in Morley but of course we would have to arrange accommodation / hospitality. Mr. Yates also suggested a visit to the engine museum at Pointon. It was suggested that we try get in contact with the company manufacturing the new gates for Five Rise Locks at Keighley.
10. Website. Nothing to report other than it is all up to date.
11. Annual Golf Tournament. In Mr Stacey’s absence there was no golf report made, however nothing has changed since our last meeting.
12. Church Service. Mr Scholes will make contact and report back at next month’s council meeting.
13. Annual Dinner. Mr. Kibler said he has not got either a menu nor a price yet, but suggested that the menu would be similar to last year, but of course he expected a significant price increase that reflects the current rise in the cost of living. We discussed increasing our price to the membership to £30 irrespective of the price we get from the golf club because with the free drink to our members at past dinners and the cost of supplying free meals to those giving lectures we are already subsidising our members. The price increase was agreed by council members present but would be put to other members of council by email. Mr. Yates said he thought we should have a speaker / lecture, he said he thought our dinner has become rather run of the mill / ordinary, other members of council said they thought when we did have speakers in the past they failed to engage our audience and had become very expensive. Mr. Kibler said he thought our members preferred the format of the last few dinners where we have had an informal quiz and guests could circulate. After much discussion we agreed that Mr. Yates would approach Richard Gibbon (former director of York Railway Museum) to ask him if he would be prepared to give us a brief talk of around 20 minutes and propose the toast, we agreed that we would pay Richard’s expenses and overnight stay if necessary. Mr. Yates will report back at the next council meeting. He felt we should try get a higher quality menu, Mr. Kibler said if we were trying to have an a-la-carte menu we should look for a different venue in the future.
Any other Business. Having no other business Mr. Kibler closed the meeting after thanking those who attended.
.
……………………………………………President. ……………….. Date