Proceedings 2002/2003 - IRSE

17
Annual Dinner and Dance
The Institution’s Annual Dinner Dance for 2002
returned this year to a London location after an
absence of four years and to a venue that the
Institution had used many times in the past. The
Copthorne Tara Hotel, Kensington, London, was the
venue for the dinner dance this year, which was held
on Friday 18th October. The venue is spacious and
attractive and the hotel events management helpful
and efficient which enabled the event to take place
in a happy and relaxed atmosphere.
The Institution is grateful for the financial support
it receives from sponsors, which permitted the
dinner dance to be arranged and accommodated in
such an attractive setting and provided the
surroundings conducive to the happy and friendly
occasion in which members and their guests could
relax.
The reception this year was provided by the
Institution. The sponsors were, Siemens
Transportation Systems who sponsored the music
for dancing and Westinghouse Rail Systems who
contributed towards the table decorations.
Members and their guests were greeted by the
President, Mr Peter Stanley and his wife Carol at the
opening reception.
The principal guest on this occasion was Dr Peter
Watson OBE, Chairman AEA Technology plc and
formerly BRB board member for Engineering, who
was accompanied by his wife. An excellent threecourse
dinner was served followed by coffee and
mints. After dinner, the President introduced his
principal guest to the gathering and Dr Watson, who
had been the principal guest at the dinner dance ten
years earlier in 1992, referred back to the remarks he
made in 1992 and spoke about the current state of
the railway Industry and the contribution that can be
made by S&T engineering. His comments were
made in an encouraging and amusing manner that
was thoroughly enjoyed by all present.
Music for dancing following the dinner was
provided by the East Woodhay Silver Band who
played a selection of music in a variety to suit all
musical tastes and dancing styles.
Regrettably numbers were significantly down on
previous years and a number of the major signalling
suppliers were absent. However, the 114 members
and their guests that did attend all enjoyed a
pleasant and happy evening.
Fourth Members’ Luncheon
The fourth Members’ Luncheon was held on 19th
June 2002 when 75 members of the Institution,
including 12 Past Presidents and nine members
with over 50 years membership, took luncheon at
the Victory Services Club in Seymour Street,
London.
The 78th person to serve as President since the
Institution’s formation in 1912, Mr Peter Stanley,
addressed the members present with a brief speech
and mentioned the forthcoming programme for his
presidential year of office.
The Chief Executive reported that the current
membership of the Institution was 2,979 and
continues to grow steadily. There are now 30
members with over 50 years’ membership, nine of
whom were able to accept the President’s invitation
to be present at the luncheon as guests of the
Institution.
Another 12 members have over 60 years membership
and two of these were also present – Peter
Guyatt and, also the longest serving Past President,
Armand Cardani, who was President 31 years ago in
1970.
There are also three members who have over 70
years membership. The longest serving member is
believed to be Mr S E W Stokes, who resides in
Brazil, with 78 years membership of the Institution
but it has not been possible to obtain a response
from his last known address. However, letters of
good wishes had been received from Douglas Kidd,
a member for 72 years residing in Shaftesbury and
aged 97, and also from Wilfred Hardman, a member
for 73 years and living in New Zealand. Many other
members who were unable to attend in person had
sent letters of apology and good wishes.
Regrettably, 17 members had died since the lunch
last year including David Wittamore, who served the
Institution as a member of Council and on the
Recruitment Committee for many years; Frank
Smith, a former Chief S&T Engineer of the LMR;
more recently Roger Pope, another long-standing
servant of the Institution, particularly on the
Examination Committee; and also Reg Hawkins,
who did so much in the last 20 years to arrange the
regular reunions of ex-SR S&T staff. The members
present expressed their grateful thanks for the
service that all of these friends and colleagues
performed for the Institution during their time with
us.
The activity of the Institution continues to increase
and the Institution is asked to contribute more and
more frequently its expertise to the development of
the industry and the profession. The Strategic Rail
Authority recently granted the Institution another
£250,000 on top of the £100,000 grant last year to
continue the work being done, with the co-operation
of the signalling industry, to recreate the recruitment,
training and career development frame work for
signalling engineers to overcome the current skills
shortage in the discipline that has occurred since
privatisation.
During the year a major task had been the introduction
of a new membership database computer