Reports of Events for Previous Years
2008
Medals, Prizes and Bursary Winners
KCLEA is pleased to announce that the following students have received awards:
KCLEA Medals
Panayiotis Kolios, Faheem Osman, Shayan Motamedi Fakhr Shaheeb Hussain and Jung Kwak KCLEA Progress Prize Eileen Valera Del Pino and Mohammad Esmaeel Beiki KCLEA Bursary (2007/8) Ahmed Abubaker and Ruchna Bhirgoo T Lo Bursary(2007/8) Alessandro Guicciardo and Panayiotis Kolios Albert Cheung Bursary(2007/8) Florian Naumann KCLES Centenary Prize Panayiotis Kolios, Shayan Motamedi Fakhr and Ioannis Vardakis Kevin Nash Memorial Prize Stanislav Hahn, Qi Ian Poon and Florian Naumann
The Annual General Meeting took place on Friday 28th November in Room K0.20 of the Strand Building with the following Agenda. The officers of the committee were appointed, with Norman Borrett accepting the post of President and Keith Newton the post of Events Secretary. The John Dougill paper on Proposals for Change was discussed and agreed with some minor amendments made including the proposal that “KCLEA should give priority to supporting engineering students, the Engineering Society and thereby the Division and engineering together with its Alumni members”. On the subject of removing the requirement for subscriptions to the KCLEA and in place requesting donations, the AGM authorised the committee to make this change at a moment which it considers appropriate. It was further agreed that the committee should look at the Constitution and make changes where necessary, which would be ratified at an Extraordinary meeting to be held at the time of the next AGM. It was also noted that the Council of KCLA would need to be consulted on the proposed changes. The 13 Club Trophy was awarded to a group of engineers from 1974 that included Messrs Ponting, Besley and da Silva and they paid tribute to the late Bernard Tierney who had been instrumental in setting up the reunions. The accounts show that the Association is in a satisfactory condition, and in particular the Bursary Fund has reached a level to sustain one £1000 Bursary on interest. 13 medals and prize cheques have been awarded to current students, of whom Panayiotis Kolios was present to receive his in person. The AGM was followed by an informal dinner at Salieri's in the Strand.
The sixth committee meeting was held on Thursday 16th October 2008, at 6.00 pm in Meeting Room 112, Strand Building with this Agenda. With minor amendments, the committee approved unanimously the John Dougill Report on the Options for Change. Please click on the link to see a copy. It had been decided not to proceed with printing the Newsletter as some of the content was now out of date. The intention is to produce one which will report events at the AGM in good time for distribution with the next “In Touch”. KCLES launched their new website at the beginning of October and have prepared a newsletter. The KCLES committee is developing plans for a Graduation Dinner which would be open to everyone and they wish to involve KCLEA.
The fifth committee meeting was held on Thursday 14th August 2008, with this Agenda. The Dougill Review was presented and discussed. This noted that the successful elements of KCLEA today include the bursaries and support for the current engineering students. The less successful are social events which have traditionally been the mainstay of the Association. Graduates from the last 20 years either are not interested, or think the social events are of the wrong kind, with the result that very few have joined the KCLEA. The report also feels that engineering is thought to be less important within King's than it used to be many years ago, and this also has an impact on numbers joining the Association. Enlarging the Association's data base by widening it to include all engineering graduates, in line with the proposal made by Norman Borrett, may help to bring about a change if made in addition to concentrating on the things which it does best. Further study will be given. As we were about go ahead with the secure area of this website, the Alumni Office announced that its own version was now live as a beta test so it was thought prudent to wait and see if the KCLEA proposal offered anything additional to the KCLA one. The possibility of having a dinner in conjunction with this year's AGM is being investigated. The Bursary Fund does not have sufficient capital to be self-sustaining on interest - a fresh appeal to members will be considered in light of the fact that the original "pump-priming" is due to run for another two years.
The fourth committee meeting was held on Thursday 3rd July 2008, with this Agenda. John Dougill is preparing a report for the committee to consider at the next meeting. Nigel Sharpe is hoping to complete his Newsletter shortly. The specification prepared by Gerry Lawrence for the proposed secure area of the KCLEA website was approved by the committee, and agreement made to start looking for an appropriate website designer to carry out the work. An outline budget for KCLEA future expenditure was agreed. It was also agreed to request a transfer of funds from the Life Fund to the General Fund, to allow for the part of this expenditure that might not be covered by subscriptions. KCLES has a new president, Lynda Nwyke, and a series of events are being planned. It was thought that students appreciate more the winning of a certificate rather than a cash prize, the former being something that can be added to a CV. The KCLEA is still without an Events Secretary. It was suggested that a date might be chosed as "Engineers Day" on which informal gatherings could take place - 11th October was proposed. The AGM will be held on Friday 28th November 2008.
The third committee meeting was held on Thursday 10th April 2008, Agenda. John Dougill is continuing his review of the current situation prior to preparing some recommendations for the future. One key point discussed is that the KCLEA is not unreasonably perceived has having a high average age, and there seems to be little attraction for current students and recent graduates. As a result, very few graduate engineers join, thus perpetuating the situation. There is a severe generation gap of members between 30 and 50 years old, and these would be the very people that new graduates would like to talk to. There was a discussion of the help available to KCLEA from the Alumni Office, and this includes free mailing to all Engineering Graduates on their database, provided we tie in with their twice yearly mailing dates. Prizes, Medals and Bursaries were awarded last year in December at a Division function, at which KCLEA (as main benefactors) should be in attendance. The following October each year there is a School function to which parents are invited and certificates given. It was agreed that either of these events is a better one to give awards to students than the current way of using the AGM. If notice of the AGM is to be mailed by the Alumni Office, then the date of it may have to be brought forward a couple of months in order to make it more topical to the In Touch edition to which the invitation is attached. The description of the proposed Secure Area of the website was further refined, and the final draft version will be presented to the committee for approval at the next meeting. The next Newsletter is currently in preparation by Nigel Sharp, and when available it will be sent free to all King's Engineers regardless of whether they are members of KCLEA, and will be made available in the public area of this website. It is hoped that this action will enourage more old engineers to join the Association.
The Five Bursary Winners for 2007/08!
The picture shows from left to right: Mr Panayiotis Kolios (3rd year Telecommunication Engineering), Ms Ruchna Bhirgoo (3rd year Telecommunication Engineering), Mr Ahmed Abubaker (2nd year Electronic Engineering), Mr Florian Naumann (3rd year Engineering with Business Management), Mr Alessandro Guicciardi (3rd year Engineering with Business Management), and Professor Seneviratne (Head of Division)
For details of the Bursaries, please see the Home Page
The second committee meeting for 2008 was held on Thursday 28th February with the following Agenda. John Dougill has commenced his forward planing exercise by starting with a meeting with KCLES, touring the division and reviewing KCLEA acitivities. Nigel Sharpe is preparing a new Newsletter and is arranging for posters to be put up in the Engineering area giving publicity on KCLEA. Gerry Lawrence presented for discussion his latest proposal for the Secure Area of the website. Unfortunately, Anne-Marie Taylor has had to resign from the position of Events Secretary, due to pressure of work, but we hope to see her as an ordinary committee member. The report on KCLES acitivities shows that the Society is continuing to flourish. Further financial support was made available by the KCLEA committee to use if necessary.
The first committee meeting for 2008 was held on Thursday 17th January with the following Agenda. The AGM has appointed John Dougill (53 - 66) to carry out a detailed study of possible ways forward for the future organisation of the KCLEA, taking into account the Norman Borrett proposal from last year, and comments made at the AGM and committee meetings. Noting that 95% of the current expenditure within the KCLEA goes towards supporting current students via medals, prizes, bursaries and events, it was hoped that the Association could be made more attractive to potential members. If current students choose not to join KCLEA, it is of more concern to future students in that it is they who will lack the financial support which current students enjoy. The committee was pleased to note that the KCLES is even stronger this year than before, with more members and several events and visits being planned. It was reported that the fund for the KCLEA bursaries has earned sufficient interest over the last 12 months to pay for one of this year's awards. While this is very good news, it does mean that unless the fund can be doubled in value, the second bursary will have to come to an end in a year or so.
2007
The Annual General Meeting took place on Friday 30th November in the South Range 3 room, with the following Agenda. Regarding the committee deliberations on the future organisation of the KCLEA, it was noted that young graduates are not interested in joining KCLEA, and so more must be offered to them, for example career help, mentoring and events to which they might be attracted. Those present at the AGM agreed that abandoning the subscription for members of the KCLEA could be risky, as even if the income remained the same, costs could increase. The AGM recommended appointing someone to continue Norman Borrett's good work in evaluating alternative ways forward, with a view to having a new proposal at the 2008 AGM. John Dougill (53 - 56) accepted this appointment. The medal and prizes were given out at a special evening, so winners were not present at the AGM. It was announced that another graduate has kindly donated money to be used for awarding a £1000 per annum bursary - Albert Cheung. This means that there will be five £1000 awards for 2008. The treasurer again reported that virtually all of the KCLEA income from subscriptions had been used to fund events, medals, prizes and bursaries for current students. The officers of the committee were appointed, with Graham Raven accepting the post of Secretary, and Nigel Sharp the post of Hon Editor. The 13 Club Trophy was awarded to Mark Whitby (Civil 69 - 72).
The fifth committee meeting was held on Thursday 11th October 2007 with this Agenda. The committee is continuing to evaluate possible changes in the way the Association is organised and funded, in order to report back to the next AGM. Regardless of any change in funding mechanism, it was unanimously agreed that it is vital, if the KCLEA is to survive, that means be found to attract and keep new members. Ideas discussed included enhanced website facilities, events that appeal to more members, and mentoring between KCLEA members and current students. It was reported that one student medal winner, in the full knowledge that his medal and prize had been paid for by KCLEA funds, declared no intention of joining the Association when he graduated - this attitude is sad because it effectively closes off the life of the Association for future graduates. The chairman reported that only 92 of our current members are paying the correct subscription amount of £10 per annum. Another 193 members are paying only £5 pa, while 17 people are paying just £1 pa.
The fourth committee meeting was held on Thursday 9th August 2007 with this Agenda. As requested by the AGM meeting last year, the committee is looking at all options regarding the future organisation of the Association. It is thought that there is a divide between older graduates (say aged over 50) and younger ones. Older ones appear to appreciate reunions and other social events, including those at which wine or beer is provided, while many younger graduates are more into web-based activities. Graduates have not been attracted into the KCLEA over the last 15 to 20 years. The problem is trying to find an arrangement which satisfies both types of graduate, and so encourage greater participation in the Association, regardless of whether a formal subscription or donations are used to raise money. The funding for the two KCLEA bursaries is still short of the amount needed to make them self-funding on an annual basis. Currently it is projected that after the agreed initial period of five years, we may have to drop down to one bursary funded by KCLEA. The Engineering Division has agreed to push forward information about both KCLES and KCLEA at the induction evening to be held during September.
Three Electrical Engineers who graduated in 1961 held a reunion - for details and a photograph see the Members Page.
The third committee meeting was held on Thursday 7th June 2007 with the following Agenda. The main discussion centred on the situation regarding the Bursaries funded by KCLEA members. We are not yet on target for the funds to be sufficient to self-sustain two bursaries, although 50 KCLEA members have been kind enough to donate a total of £13K, with an addional £12K of pump-priming coming from KCLEA funds. A new appeal to members will be prepared. The Chairman has come up with a weighting table for the criteria to help with the allocation of awards to students, and this was much appreciated by the committee. There was no representative from KCLES present due to it being end of term, but it was understood that not many tickets had been sold for the traditional end of term dinner, the rather high price probably being the main reason. Proposed social meetings of KCLEA members were discussed, among them being an informal summer meeting, and a 20 year reunion for graduates of the 1980 - 1990 decade, where there is a distinct lack of membership. The accounts show that, allowing for the special expense of the Bursaries, the subscription fund is just about breaking even. A discussion was held about whether or not the future should continue this way, or whether additional spending should be agreed in order to attract new KCLEA members. The College has offered an archiving facility for documents and photographs held by the officers of the KCLEA. All student prize winners (not bursaries) will now receive a minimum of £50 in addition to any medal awarded. The formal discussion on the Future Organisation of the Association was not held, due to lack of time. It will be top priority at the next committee meeting.
The second committee meeting was held on Friday 27th April 2007 with the following Agenda. The funding which provides the Bursaries has increased thanks to a number of gifts from KCLEA members, but still needs more to enable the Bursary Account to fund fully the awards from the interest gained. Meetings of the Cybernetics Society take place in Strand Campus on the last Monday of every month and all KCLEA members are welcome to attend without charge. The next meeting of this society will discuss "Engineering in Architecture". The committee agreed that the value of the prizes awarded to students today does not reflect the increase in inflation over the last few years, and agreed a new scale for the awards which will be made in October this year. A KCLEA event is being planned that will be a joint one with members of the KCLES. Regarding the Future Organisation of the KCLEA, it was noted that there are many more Engineering graduates on the KCLA list than are members of KCLEA, and the proposal before us can be summed up as "All KCLA Engineering Graduates are to become members of KCLEA, with subscriptions being abolished, and relying on voluntary donations for funding". The committee agreed that to go forward, it needs to examine fully the financial implications this would have on the current support to students.
The KCLEA Networking Evening was held on Friday 16th March 2007 in the refurbished area of the Strand Campus, to enable current students and older graduate members to meet informally in a social atmosphere. Although not many attended, those that did found it very useful, and the feedback was very positive with many asking when the next event would be held.
The first committee meeting for 2007 was held on Thursday 8th February 2007 with the following Agenda. The Hon Sec Norman Borrett writes "the Committee will be setting up a full schedule for activities during the year and will be examining in detail the financial implications of changing the modus operandi of the Association according to my proposal."
2006
The Divisional Christmas Party was held on Thusday 14th December 2006, and during this the four new Bursary winners were presented with their awards, based on the criteria given on the Home Page. Two are provided by the KCLEA, and two are provided by Terence Lo (Mech Eng 1983), and each is to the value of £1000. The award winners for 2006/07 are:
Ms Laura Dean, 3rd year Mechanical Engineering
Mr Faheem Osman 2nd year Electronic Engineering
Mr Nigel Sharp 3rd year Mechanical Engineering
Mr Joseph Sherwood 2nd year Mechanical EngineeringThe Annual General Meeting took place on Thursday 30th November 2006, at 6.00 pm in the Council Room at Strand Building, with the following agenda - Agenda for AGM 2006. The Chairman of the KCLEA, Lakmal Seneviratne was unable to be present so Stanley Earles kindly took the chair. The minutes of the AGM 2005 were approved. The KCLEA Medals and Prizes were presented to the winners and it was noted by the Treasurer in his report that virtually all of the past year's expenditure went towards supporting current students in one way or another. The KCLEA Bursary Fund now stands at £8,000 which will allow bursaries to be awarded at the rate of two per year for the next five years. It is hoped to make this run for much longer, and further donations are kindly requested from members. The document entitled "The Future of the Association" which proposes changes to the way KCLEA is organised and funded was discussed. A vote was taken on a proposal to proceed further with the analysis of the changes proposed with a view to bringing a firm proposal to the AGM in 2007. This was carried unanimously, with 3 abstentions. It was noted that of those members of KCLEA who had e-mailed Mike Clode with their views, all were in favour. Keith Newton, who has been a committee member for many years, kindly accepted the nomination to become the next President of KCLEA. All the current officers were re-elected to their positions, and in addition Graham Raven, Civil 60 - 63 volunteered to join the committee. The post of Honorary Newsletter Editor remains unfilled. The 13 Club Trophy was awarded this year to Norman Borrett to recognise the considerable input he has made to keeping the KCLEA up and running over many years.
The fourth committee meeting was held on Thursday 26th October 2006 with the following agenda - 26th October 2006. The trustees of the KCLEA Life Members' Fund agreed they would be sympathetic to a request from the Secretary to transfer some funds into the Bursary Fund. More donations are still needed to build up this fund into a self-sustaining amount, so that bursaries can be awarded annually. Current second and third year students will be invited to apply, with the awards being made at the Divisional Party to be held in December. The Events Secretary is hoping to arrange that KCLEA members can be present at this party. She is also planning a Mentoring/Networking evening for current students and KCLEA during March or April 2007. It was agreed that there would be a discussion at the AGM based on the paper put forward at the last committee meeting regarding the future organisation of the KCLEA (see below, third committee meeting). Those not at the AGM will be asked to send in their comments. Studies are continuing into how to develop a secure area on this website which will be excusively for members of KCLEA. The KCLES has a new website, which also includes the King's Engineers' war cry.
The first event to be organised by our Events Secretary, Anne-Marie Taylor, took place on Saturday 23rd September 2006. This was an open day in the Engineering Division, and showed how the department has changed over the years. It was enjoyed by all who attended.
A short report, listing the attendees and giving a few photographs taken on the day, is given here - Report.Newsletter for 2006
Our Hon Secretary, Norman Borrett, has written a newsletter, and this was dispatched to all on the KCLEA mailing list around the 23rd June 2006. If you have not yet received a personal copy, it may be because we have lost track of your latest address. If this is the case, please contact the Membership Secretary
The newsletter contains information about the KCLEA Bursaries, a questionnaire regarding the use of personal information on this website and in a hard copy of the Members Directory, and a list of members.
First Bursary Winners!
Congratulations to the First Two Students to be awarded the KCLEA Bursaries! |
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Paul Richardson |
Muhamed Ghouse 3rd Year B. Eng. Engineering with Business Management |
A sub-committee of KCLEA decided that Paul and Muhamed were the two best applicants for 2006, and these two students were duly awarded a cheque for £1000 each by the President, Lakmal Seneviratne while our Secretary, Norman Borrett looks on. Thanks are due to those members of KCLEA who have made this possible by their kind donations to the Bursary Fund. More members are asked to join in making donations so that further bursaries can be awarded in future years. We know the winning students are most grateful for this help with their educational finances. Please contact the Membership Secretary if you wish to make a donation.
The Football Trophy
(move cursor over trophy)
Reggie's Story
The Reggie pictured at the top of each page on this website is not the one which many earlier King's Engineers used to help struggle to lift and on which we transported the Senior Woman Student along the Strand and around the outside of the College! Sadly, that one has became rather decayed, and a new one was commissioned to take its place. Further details can be found in this interesting article - The Lion, The Skip and The Union - which appeared in an issue of Roar a few years ago.
The third committee meeting was held on Thursday 27th July 2006 with the following agenda - 27th July 2006. It was reported that a former Engineering student, Mr Terence Lo from Hong Kong, has very kindly agreed to fund two bursaries in addition to the two funded by the KCLEA. These will be known as "The Terence Lo Engineering Bursaries" and will be awarded in the same way as the KCLEA bursaries. Our Hon Secretary, Norman Borrett tabled a paper setting out a proposal to change the organisation of the Association. Full details and a summary of the discussion is given in the attached document - The Future of the Association.
The second committee meeting for 2006 was held on Thursday 27th April with the following agenda - 27th April 2006. The two student bursaries were discussed and it was agreed there are sufficient funds to run them for a few years, but more donations are needed from KCLEA members if they are to be awarded for a long time into the future. All members are asked to give more consideration to this important appeal, and a form has been included with the Newsletter for 2006. It was also pointed out that not all members are paying the correct level of subscription, which is £10 per annum, and if members would be kind enough to amend their amounts to this level, this would also help the Bursary Fund. If sufficient capital can be amassed, the bursaries can be self-sustaining on the interest alone. For further details of the Bursaries, please see our Home Page. Ideas for future Association events were discussed, and information regarding the first one now appears above in the section on Forthcoming Events. The KCLES reported that the end of term dinner was likely to have a shortfall of about £500, and the committee agreed to help out with half of this amount. In return, membership of KCLEA will be raised in profile with the final year students. Martin Smith informed the committee that he chairs a group called the Cybernetics Society, which was founded in, and meets in, King's College. He stated that members of KCLEA and KCLES would be eligible to attend, and offered to provide further details of forthcoming meetings.
The first committee meeting for 2006 was held on Thursday 26th January with the following agenda - Agenda for Committee Meeting 26th January 2006. Plans were approved to put in hand the award of the first two student bursaries by the end of April this year. The two awards will go to second or third year students who satisfy a panel with not more than 500 words based around academic performance, contribution made to the activities of KCLES and the student body in general, vacation work, intended career, and hardship. A number of KCLEA members have responded to the invitation to help fund these bursaries with one-off or annual donations. It is important that more members respond if the bursaries are to continue well into the future. A Mailing by the Alumni Office to non-members of KCLEA who studied in the Department of Engineering has resulted in several application forms being received. Other former students are also invited to join KCLEA (see the Home Page and Membership Page for details). The representative of KCLES informed us that the £250 grant was put towards the cost of a football competition and trophy. The committee agreed to look favourably on a request for this amount for other functions in future years. Following the appointment at the last AGM of Anne-Marie Taylor as Entertainments Secretary, a discussion was held on possible future social events.
2005
The Annual General Meeting for 2005 was held on Friday 25th November at 6.45 pm in Room 112, Strand Building, with the following agenda - Agenda for AGM 2005. The Chairman of KCLEA, Lakmal Seneviratne was unable to be present, so Max Lipman kindly agreed to chair the meeting. The AGM approved the plans for awarding two bursaries to current Engineering students. Details of the funding arrangements were discussed. Greater value for money in being a member of KCLEA was agreed to be necessary, and to this end, Anne-Marie Taylor (00 - 04) was appointed Entertainments Secretary. KCLEA medals and prizes were awarded to the winners selected from current Engineering students, and the 13 Club Trophy was awarded to Keith Newton (55 - 58) for his outstanding contribution to the work of KCLEA over many years. The Draft minutes of this AGM, which have been seen by the committee and which are to be approved at the 2006 AGM, can be seen by clicking on this link - Draft Minutes of AGM 2005.
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Tak Wai 'David' Cheng receiving his
KCLEA Medal from Max Lipman |
Abu Sayed receiving his KCLEA Medal from Max Lipman |
Dev Pragad Audsin receiving his KCLEA Medal |
The fourth committee meeting was held on Wednesday 28th September 2005, with the following agenda - Agenda for Committee Meeting 28 September 05. The plan for two bursaries for current engineering students was further refined, and a proposal has been submitted to the College Board for approval. This will be discussed at the AGM in November. The committee approved the sum of £250 to be put towards an event for current engineering students as a way of helping to bring to their attention the presence of KCLEA.The third committee meeting was held on Wednesday 13th July 2005 with the following agenda - Agenda for Committee Meeting 13 July 05. Most of the discussion related to the future possible funding by KCLEA of bursaries for engineering students.
The second committee meeting was held on Wednesday 27th April 2005, and the Agenda may be seen by clicking on the following: - Agenda for Committee Meeting 27th April 05. . Future plans for this website were discussed, including the planned implementation of a Members Only area. It was also noted that the website for KCLES has been dramatically changed, and is well worth a visit - old engineers can see what the current students are getting up to!
The first committee meeting for 2005 was held on Wednesday 26th January. For details of the Agenda, please follow this link - Agenda for Committee Meeting 26 Jan 05.
A Good News Item
In 2005 The Guardian carried out a survey of all British Universities. Several criteria were scored, and an overall mark awarded. It is very encouraging for the staff and students of the Engineering Faculty at King's to see the following results:
2004
The 2004 Annual General Meeting was held on Thursday 25th November 2004 at 6.45 pm in Room 112, Strand Building. For details of the Agenda, please follow this link - Agenda for AGM 2004. The term of office of the President, Stanley Earles, came to a close, and Lakmal Seneviratne was appointed as the new President. KCLEA Medals were awarded to current students of the Engineering Department, and the 13 Club Trophy was awarded to Maurice Kenn. The minutes of the AGM, approved at the 2005 AGM, can be seen by following this link - Minutes AGM 2004.
13 Club Trophy for 2004
2003
The 2003 AGM was held on Friday 28th November 2003. The minutes of this meeting can be seen by clicking on this link - Minutes for AGM 2003
