From Birdcage Walk

The latest in our ongoing series of updates about activities at the Institution.

Dear Member,

We are sure that our railway specialists will know for sure that this week is the 189^th anniversary of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway’s Rainhill Trials.  Run over six days with five locomotives, it was only George and Robert Stephenson’s Rocket that completed the trial and hence took the contract.  We celebrated their success under their portraits in the lecture theatre on Friday along with Durham University who won the National Final of the UK Universities Design Challenge.  With a similar emphasis on reliability, Durham were one of just two teams in the final to ‘complete the course’.  Congratulations to them.  The Chairman of the Design Challenge Board, David Ball, was then packing his bags to go to Pakistan and support the teams there for their equivalent next week.  Good luck to all involved.

Congratulations also to our two new Trustees who are now confirmed in post.  These replace Rob Smith and Patrick Finlay who left in the Summer.  They are Drew Taggart, the current Chair of Midland Region, and Peter Flinn who is very active in our Manufacturing Division, particularly with the TMMX Awards.  Neither have been Trustees before and so we welcome the fresh insight they will bring to our leadership.  Their first Board meeting will be in December and they will serve until the Presidential handover in May 2019.  Those of you on Council  may well catch a first glimpse of them before that at your meeting on 1 November.  Final congratulations also to existing Trustee Phil Peel, who has taken over as our Honorary Treasurer replacing Ian Joesbury.

One of Phil’s first tasks will be to take part in the Finance Review which started this week under the Chairmanship of Bill Edgar.  Bill was our President back in 2004/2005. His financial experience through running Wood Group prior to that is ideally suited to the forensic review of our finances that is needed.  Bill is ably supported by Martin Robinson (Council representative), Brian Kent (Requisitioner), Peter Flinn (Trustee) and Jit Bhuva (Independent) who is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants.  The Executive are also present through the Finance and Commercial Director and the Chief Executive.  This review has taken some time to get going and so time is now tight for it to report.  The aim is for an initial statement on key issues in time for the Council meeting on 1 November.  Its terms of reference detail these short term and some longer term objectives and are going to be put up on our website this week.

Colin Brown

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