THE LEEDS ASSOCIATION OF ENGINEERS
Minutes of the Council Meeting held at 7.15pm on Thursday 4th May 2017 at the Cornerhouse Club Leeds.
1. Attendance. J. Aldersley President in the chair with: R. Town, M. Murray, A. Kibler , I. Scholes, J. Shergill, G. Toulson, K. Hegarty, J. Bentley, A. Rogers, H. Kingswell and I. Blakeley.
2. Apologies for absence. S. Stacey and B. Yates.
3. Minutes of the Previous Meeting, dated 6th April 2017 were approved & signed.
4. Matters Arising. None.
5. Treasurers Report. Mr. Bentley reported the following transactions :-
Debits
Web via. G. Toulson – £44.39
Dinner Headingley Golf Club – £1117.85
Dinner Raffle Proceeds for Yorkshire Air Ambulance – £75.60
A. Kibler. Hull Dinner expenses. – £81.98
Income
Subs – £65.00
Dinner – £1075.00
Dinner Raffle – £75.60
Dinner deficit £42.85 including bar bill of £157.85 (Free Drinks).
Mr. Bentley said that the handover of treasurer’s duties to Mr. Kibler may involve a trip to Yorkshire Bank for them both. He will contact the bank to see what is required.
6. Correspondence. No significant correspondence received this month. Mr. Aldersley said he will write to the various Colleges and Universities he has been speaking to in order to try generate interest in the engineering association.
7. Membership. Nothing to report.
8. Current Programme. Mr. Toulson has spoken to Jane Breach at Drax Power station, they have requested the names and ages of people who want to make the visit, this information is required by the 12th May. Drax have on-site parking available, details of this will be displayed on the website and published on the flyer. The next event is the church service on the 7th May followed by lunch at the Palace Hotel. The solstice walk is still not determined. Possibilities are Ogden Water or a visit to Shipley Park where it might be possible to meet up with Bradford Model engineers.
9. Next Session. Mr. Toulson had copies of the worksheets he had prepared for the next session, this currently has 6 blank spaces. We need to get 3 events pencilled in as soon as possible. Mr. Bentley is hoping to get us a lecture on Lancashire and Yorkshire Railways for September, Mr. Scholes had enquired about visiting the Blackpool Tram Depot but was told there is nothing available at the moment but a visit might be possible in the New Year. It might be necessary to have interim meetings in the closed season in order to get a new programme established, this is how things were organised in the past. Mr. Toulson will keep the worksheet updated and circulate when changes have been made.
10. Website. Mr. Toulson advised us that fees for the website have been paid and the domain name is renewed. He advised us that he needs the President’s letter by the end of August to post before the next session starts. Mr. Scholes has sent photographs from the annual dinner for posting on the website. Mr. Toulson said he needs a photograph of our new Vice President for the website.
11. Golf. In the absence of Mr. Stacey, Mr. Aldersley read out a report on the golf he had received from Mr. Stacey by email.
12. Annual Dinner. Mr.Kibler said that he feels we should send out the flyer earlier for the annual dinner, 2 weeks notice was not enough. This resulted in people advising him of their intention to attend at the last minute. He feels 4 weeks would be better next time. Mr. Kibler said his wife had questioned why the membership pay more than cost price for the meal, we said that we have always tried to balance the books and the small additional price was to cover other expenses including non- paying guests / delegates and the cost of any entertainment / paid speakers. Mr. Shergill advised us that we had failed to invite Tony Jackson who gave us the talk on the use of puddling clay in the construction of Dams. This was due to no one making Mr. Kibler aware that he should be invited. It was agreed that when he attends the golf tournament as a player this year his meal will be free of charge. We discussed the format of the evening briefly and said we need to address exactly who we are trying to attract? If we are serious about getting younger people to join us then what we currently do clearly is not working.
13. Honorary Life Members. It was voted for and accepted at this year’s A.G.M. that 3 members of council, Mr. Hegarty, Mr. Rogers and Mr. Bentley should be made honorary life members in recognition of their long and committed service to Leeds Association of Engineers.
14. Presentation. Mr. Aldersley formally presented the badge of office to our new Vice President Mr. Town, he said it is refreshing to have new members to council and particularly someone who is significantly younger to give us a fresh perspective.
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Any other Business. Having no other business Mr. Aldersley closed the meeting.
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