THE LEEDS ASSOCIATION OF ENGINEERS
Minutes of the Council Meeting held at 7.00 pm on Thursday 2nd March 2023 at the Corner House Club Leeds LS17 6QE
1. Attendance. J. Aldersley in the chair with, B. Yates, I. Scholes, G. Roper, A. Rogers, J. Bentley, G. Toulson and I. Blakeley.
2. Apologies for absence. J. Burton, S. Stacey, H. Soutar, M. Murray and A. Kibler.
3. Minutes of the Previous Meeting. Dated 2nd February 2023 were approved and signed.
4. Matters Arising. None.
Treasurers Report. Mr. Aldersley read out Mr. Kibler’s report that had been supplied on email. This includes all financial transactions since last month’s council meeting and includes the balances in each bank account. Mr. Kibler had commented that Mr. Aldersley has offered a free meal for Keith Walker who gave us our lecture in February. He was not aware that we are not offering free meals at the annual dinner now but we agreed that we should honour the offer; we need to confirm that Keith will be attending. Mr Kibler’s email advised us that he has prepared a quiz for use at the annual dinner. The mail also advised us that numbers are likely to be lower at this year’s dinner because last year we had fourteen non- paying guests which bolstered the numbers. Mr. Scholes has got the invoice for the meeting rooms for the Church for both February and March, we need to pay the February invoice now and the March invoice after the March lecture.
The following transactions were reported:-
| Date | Details Of Transaction | Debit | Credit | |
| 3/Feb/23 | Subs – Mike Stoker | 0.00 | 15.00 | |
| 6/Feb/23 | Methodist Church Room Hire – January | 50.00 | 0.00 | |
| 13/Feb/23 | Subs Neil Burchall | 0.00 | 15.00 | |
| 24/Feb/23 | Dinner – Tony & Jacky Mathers | 60.00 | 0.00 | |
| 27/Feb/23 | Dinner – John & Sue Bentley | 60.00 | 0.00 | |
| 27/Feb/23 | Dinner – G Toulson & A Rogers | 60.00 | 0.00 |
The bank balances were reported but are not recorded in the minutes.
5. Correspondence. Mr Toulson said he had been contacted by Francis Atkinson, a long time member of the association, who normally attends many of our events. He said Francis informed him he has a very rare heart condition and he is going to London for specialist treatment to the only hospital in the country with the equipment and know how. Mr Toulson said he has passed on our best wishes, Mr. Roper said he will contact Francis for a chat before he leaves for London.
6. Membership. Mr. Aldersley and Mr. Soutar have been on a visit from Leeds City College to Kirkstall Engineering where they met four engineering students who are eager to join Leeds Association of Engineers. Harry spoke enthusiastically to the four and explained how he was last year’s student award winner and how he had joined our council. Martins one of the four students said he would like to attend our annual dinner. They said they may be able to help in arranging a factory visit to Kirkstall Engineering for Leeds Association of Engineers. Mr. Aldersley said that Mr. Soutar has identified a possible candidate for the next student award.
7. Current Programme. Mr. Roper said that his contact that was going to talk about the nuclear industry is not available at the moment due to a change of job leaving him short of time. Mr. Yates said he has spoken to a contact at Sheffield Science Park who can allow us a visit, we just need to arrange a date and time. We need to arrange the Solstice walk, but this has normally done by Mr. Murray who is away on holiday at the moment but returns early April. Mr. Toulson said he thought the four new potential members might be interested in our next lecture at the end of March about restoration of the model steam locomotive originally built at a Leeds Grammar school.
8. Next Session. Mr. Aldersley said he has been to the recycling plant in Leeds where they allow visits and would be able to accommodate us, but he feels some of our ageing membership would not be physically able to attend because the facility is spread over seven floors. He said he has been in contact with 600 group (machine tool manufacturer) and he is due to visit them with a group from Leeds City College (his employer), whilst he is there he will try arrange a visit for Leeds Association of Engineers, or at least find out who he needs to speak to. He said he will speak to Leeds University to try and get some rapport with them once more, he feels It would be nice to be able to use their facilities if we have a prestigious lecture or even get a visit to view their facilities which have surely changed considerably since we last visited. Mr. Aldersley said there is a company in Boroughbridge that make valves for gas tanks who might be worth approaching for a visit. Mark Whitehead, a former member of our association in the 1980s, has re-joined and will give us a lecture on secondary steel making. We discussed how we need to make a concerted effort to get more visits and fill the programme earlier. We need to be starting a new session with at least the first three or four events confirmed. John McCluskey of Keighley Association of Engineers has asked if we can provide a list of people who we have had lectures from, or visits in the past so he can approach them with a view to securing the same for the Keighley Association. Council agreed that this would be okay.
9. Website. Nothing to report other than it is all up to date.
10. Annual Golf Tournament. Mr Stacey is asking for help. We need to speak to any member who plays in the golf tournament if they are prepared to help with the organisation of the tournament in future. The question was raised as to why we have the tournament, is it for our members or for others. The overall conclusion is that it promotes our association and keeps us in contact with industry without costing us anything other than time.
11. Church Service. Mr Scholes has been in contact with the new vicar at Leeds Parish Church and will arrange to meet him to discuss what part we normally play in our annual church service.
12. Annual Dinner. Mr. Kibler has got the menus and venue all sorted out. He is rather concerned about the numbers, he feels we might struggle to reach the number of guests that the price of the meal was based on achieving. Mr Toulson suggested that we send out a newsletter to drum up support. The quiz has been written by Mr. Kibler and is ready to go. Mr. Kibler expressed at the last meeting that this is the last time he is organising the annual dinner so we will need a new dinner secretary for next year. There has been some debate about the format of the dinner which needs discussing at length on some other occasion. Mr .Aldersley did say that in the past Mr. Kibler had sent out a survey to the membership questioning what style of dinner evening they wanted but got very little response. We did say that the next lecture meeting at the end of March was a good opportunity to try boost numbers assuming we get a good attendance, we can also send out a flyer if dinner guest numbers are still low.
Any other Business. Having no other business Mr. Aldersley closed the meeting after thanking those who attended.
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President……………………………………… Date……………………