THE LEEDS ASSOCIATION OF ENGINEERS
Minutes of the Annual General Meeting + A Talk By Mr. Aldersley. The meeting was hosted online by Mr. Kibler using the “Zoom” video conferencing application this was necessary due the national Covid -19 requirements for social distancing. Held at 7.30pm on Thursday 29th April 2021
1. Attendance– Fifteen members of Leeds Association of Engineers attended the meeting with, Mr Town our president in the chair plus one observer. Mr Pankhurst of Keighley Association of Engineers. He was trying to ascertain whether the Zoom meeting would work for them. The meeting will be followed by a talk from Mr Aldersley where he will tell us about some of his most amusing memories and characters from his early days in engineering.
2. Apologies for absence. Mr. Yates and Mr. Stacey.
3. Minutes of the previous A.G.M. Held on 25th April 2019 had been made available for all to download from the Leeds Association of Engineers website. Those minutes were approved by a show of hands. Note we did not have an AGM in 2020 due to the Covid – 19 Pandemic restrictions.
4. Matters Arising. None.
5. Nominations for Council. Mr. Aldersley said that our constitution states that council members serve a period of two years after which they must resign and re-apply if they wish to remain on council. This gives the opportunity for other members to take up office and bring forward new ideas. Having no new candidate the twelve existing council members have offered themselves to extend their council membership for a further 12 months. This was voted on by the membership present and agreed by a show of hands.
6. Nominations for Vice President. In the absence of any volunteers for this role Mr. Aldersley said, he would be prepared to be interim Vice President if the membership wished him to do this. This was agreed with a show of hands.
7. Nominations for President. In the absence of any volunteers Mr. Town offered to carry on as president for the next year if the membership were in favour of him doing so, He was proposed by Mr Aldersley and it was agreed by a show of hands from the membership.
8. Confirmation of Trustees. Mr. Town said that we need to confirm the names of the trustees at each A.G.M. and minute this for the bank. The names of the trustees are John Bentley, Kevin Hegarty and Ian Blakeley. He asked that the membership vote to accept that these people continue in their current roles. This was done with a show of hands.
9. Website. Mr. Toulson said we are getting more hits on the website but he feels we need more contributors as it has been mainly himself and Mr Yates who have submitted articles on a regular basis. We need to refresh the website regularly to get people coming back. We do get details of what pages have been visited but nothing to identify who by. Mr Toulson said we have had two bills recently but the website only costs the association about £1.30 per week.
10. Membership Report. Mr Murray reported that the last two years have been quite successful. We had 69 members 2 years ago but this has now increased to 75 members. In 2018 we had three corporate members, this fell to one corporate member in 2019. Membership then consisted of nineteen honorary members, one life member and forty nine ordinary members. In 2020 we are back to having three corporate members, fourteen honorary, four honorary life members, two life members and the remainder are full members.
We have had two members pass away since our last AGM Mr Alan Harris and Mr Clive Randall.
11. Treasurers Report. Not wanting to post our Accounts on the internet Mr. Kibler shared his computer screen online to allow everyone in the Zoom meeting to see the accounts for the year ending 31st October 2019 and the year ending 31st October 2020. He went through the accounts explaining various transactions and highlighted the fact that we had prepaid £135 for lecture rooms three months of which we had been unable to use because of the restrictions on meetings due to Covid -19, he has now secured a refund of £81. The cost of the visit to Kirklees Light Railway remains because we are hopeful of reinstating the visit in September when the current Covid -19 restrictions might be lifted. Mr Kibler proposed that we move audit / end of the financial year to the end of November, however Mr Murray pointed out that this is normally the time we send out requests for subscriptions so it could create more problems than it solves. We agreed to put the change of year end on the agenda for the next council meeting. Mr Murray proposed that if council felt it was appropriate they had permission of the membership to move the year end to end of November. This was agreed by a show of hands. Mr Toulson proposed that we should accept the accounts and this was seconded by Mr Bentley and agreed by a show of hands from the members present.
12. Annual Dinner. We discussed the possibility of having the annual dinner in September if Covid restrictions are relaxed. The proposed dinner for 2020 had to be cancelled.
13. Annual Golf Tournament. Mr. Toulson said he has received an email from Mr Stacey (Golf Secretary) cancelling this years tournament due on the 21st June saying that with the level of restrictions currently in place it is not possible to run the event successfully. It might be possible to reschedule for September if Covid – 19 restrictions are relaxed. Mr Toulson will post a notice on the website.
14. Summer Solstifce Walk. Mr. Murray said we are hopeful of doing our traditional summer solstice walk and he is looking for a suitable location with the prospect of a bar meal following the walk if government restrictions are lifted.
15. Any Other Business. Mr Town (Our President) thanked people for attending this online AGM and closed the meeting at 8.00pm. He invited people to stay online and listen to the talk by Mr. Aldersley.
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