| The Region was delighted to welcome IMechE President, John Hilton, for a Presidential Visit and to attend the 2017 Merseyside and North Wales Engineering Dinner on 2nd and 3rd March.
The visit started with an informal committee dinner and chat on the evening of 2nd March at Chez Jules in Chester. The President had the opportunity to meet a number of Regional Volunteers from not only the Regional Committee but also the North Wales Area and newly reestablished Young Member Panel. The evening set the tone for the remainder of the visit.
During Friday 3rd March, Jon, accompanied by Regional Chairman, Gareth Jones, Past Chairman and Education Lead, Ron Faulkner, Young Member Chairman Ethan Spall with IMechE Regional Business Development Manager, Emma-Jane Guy, visited a number of establishments and companies in the Region.
The morning started with a trip to The Engineering College at Birkenhead, to hear about the work done by the team in training the apprentices who attend the college - many of whom work for the next place to be visited, Cammell Laird. The visit also included a tour of the workshops and the opportunity to meet some of the apprentices.
From here, the party went across to the Cammell Laird offices to be met by IMechE Fellow, John Eldridge and his team to learn more about the exciting opportunities currently taking place there. The building of the new polar explorer, RRS Sir David Attenborough, other RORO ferries and even small scale reactor developments. Lunch was had with staff from the site and students from the 2 Liverpool Universities where John is also a visiting lecturer.
The visits for the day finished at TATA Steel in Flintshire, where IMechE member Mike Renfrey, hosted the party.
The Annual Dinner this year was slightly down on numbers, but still saw around 150 member companies, members and their guests enjoying an extremely sociable evening, with good food, whilst raising money for charity. Regional Secretary, Nikki Barker, was MC for the evening; Jon Hilton gave the opening address and Peter Slack, gave a fantastic after dinner speech, talking about the virtues of farming in the Peak District.
There may be a slight change to the format for next years event, so keep your eyes open for updates. However whatever the event, it will be held on 2nd March 2018 - so put the date in your diary now.
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