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1. Regional Dinner
The highlight of the year was the 11th Regional Dinner on the 13th March, that was a huge success, not just the event itself with around 180 guests but also the far-reaching social media impact on LinkedIn due to our own posts and guests sharing pictures and appreciations. The President, Master Cutler and others gave lots of great feedback and once again thanks to our main sponsors, Elevation Recruitment Group and AESSEAL and gift sponsor Projex Solutions. Special thanks to Nicky Baxter for her exceptional dedication in making the event happen.
2. Committee and Volunteer Contributions
The work of the Yorkshire Region and Area Committees continues to drive the success of events and engagement across the Region. Thank you for all your reports. At a local level this is working well but I would like to see greater engagement at the regional and national level. It’s important that the Yorkshire Region is seen as leading the way and that our members at the grassroots are being consulted and their voices heard right up to the IMechE leadership. We need to make sure we have strong vertical comms/engagement via the Area Committees and Young Member Panels through the Region to the centre. We must be visible and relevant to our members.
3. STEM Events
During the past year, we delivered several major STEM outreach activities, including:
• Yorkshire and Humber STEMFest – Bradford
• Get Up to Speed with STEM – Rotherham
• Colliderfest – Hull
Thank you to everyone involved. We do these well, get the IMechE branding out there and they are an essential way of engaging and inspiring the next generation.
4. Presidential Visits
We hosted two significant IMechE Presidential Visits:
• May 2025 – Outgoing President Sir Clive Hickman visited the Eastern Area (Hull).
• April 2026 – President Matt Garside completed a visit across the South Yorkshire Area.
Again thanks to those that made these happen. These visits demonstrate the Region’s national importance and the continued engagement with the senior IMechE leadership.
5. Young Member Activities
The Young Member Panels continue to evolve and thrive. Particularly pleased to see the adoption of the Student Chapter pilots at Huddersfield and Leeds universities.
6. Competitions
• Speak Out for Engineering (SOfE) 2025, run by the Young Members and sponsored by Elevation Recruitment Group. Last year’s winner of the Philip Hilton Trophy was Nicola Yau – who represented Yorkshire at the National Final in Newcastle and achieved an outstanding 2nd place nationally.
• Design Challenge 2025, run by Laura Mattison and the Young Members. Sheffield Hallam University’s Team AFFinitY won both the Yorkshire Region Competition, and the National Final at Birdcage Walk, triumphing over 75 teams.
• Automobile Engineering Competition 2025, Winner Kaveesha Abeysundara, from the University of Leeds
7. National
We’ve seen the decision to relocate from BCW, detailed planning and next steps continue. The Project K output and changes to the IMechE By-Laws and Trustee Board Regulations. National Dinner on the 27th November 2025, in George Stephenson’s Boiler Shop, Newcastle, with keynote speaker Rob Bell.
Further changes around the culture and operation of Council through the leadership of the interim CEO Jo Passingham.
8. 2026/27
This year we need to continue to do what we do well, celebrate engineering in Yorkshire. I do ask that we look at how we can reach out further with our engagement of our members so their voices are heard nationally, and we are visible and relevant.
Best regards,
Andrew Bromley CEng FIMechE
Chair, IMechE Yorkshire Region
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Yorkshire holds the distinction of being the very first Branch to be created within the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, and in 2021 we celebrated our centenary. The inaugural meeting was held in Leeds on the 14th February 1921, and after initially being known as the "Leeds Branch", it was later renamed the Yorkshire Region in 1998.
The past 100 years have seen many changes in the world of engineering and Yorkshire has been at the forefront of innovation and technology. The Region is home to many leading engineering companies and is also at the cutting edge of research, which is shown in the breadth and expertise of our membership.
On the 12th February 2021 we were delighted to hold an online Centenary Celebration Event, with the President, Terry Spall, amongst our line-up of speakers, reflecting on the success of the Region and our past and present activities. If you missed this event, you can catch-up via the IMechE Webinar Hub.
We also take great pride in our published book - “Yorkshire: A Centenary of the IMechE's Oldest Region". Written by one of our past Regional Chairs, Ashley Crossland CEng FIMechE MIET, with contributions from Terry Spall (President 2020/21), Luke Farmer (Yorkshire Region Chair 2019-21) and items from our other Area Committees, the 72 pages and illustrations suitably celebrate the formation of our Region and recount its success. Follow the link to view the book or to download your copy.
In addition, there was a centenary article “From Birdcage Walk”, also written by Ashley Crossland, in Issue 1 2021 of Professional Engineering.
Our sincerest thanks go to all who were involved in making our centenary celebrations a success in 2021 and we wish all of our members the very best for the next 100 years!
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As a result of the pandemic, the move to online webinars, meetings and activities offered members a greater opportunity to participate in a wide range of events at a local, national and global level, and engage with the Institution from the comfort of their own homes or workplaces.
However, we also appreciate the value of being able to interact with fellow engineers, friends & family at "face-to-face" events and the benefits this has for many members.
As such, we look forward to continuing to offer a varied programme of both online webinars and "in person" events over the forthcoming year.
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Get involved
There are many initiatives going on in this region and there are plenty of great opportunities for you to be involved. This includes becoming a mentor and sharing your experience to help others develop, running an event, or joining one of our committees.
Find out what we get up to - "Introducing the IMechE Regions"
Find out which of our Area Committees covers your postcode.
To get involved with the Institution's activities in Yorkshire, contact Nicky Baxter.
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