Welcome to the South Wales Region

A warm welcome to the South Wales Region web site. No, I’m not here in a fifth year as Chairman – Mr Denis McCann now has that role. But this Region, in common with many others, now has an Administrator. And that’s me...

We have over 1900 members here, with an active Regional Committee and a very keen Young Members Panel, both of which produce a programme of lectures and visits for each season. Feel free to download our current programme and I hope to see you at an event soon.

Regional members are kept informed of events via a number of methods:

• At the beginning of the season, based on the academic year so generally around October, all members receive the programme card in the post
• Regional events are also announced in ‘Agenda’, the newsletter that accompanies Professional Engineering magazine
• Event posters are distributed to many academic institutions and certain industrial companies in the Region

Lastly, members who have given an email contact address to the IMechE can be notified of events via HQ’s list server, and may be sent updates, changes and reminders

We are holding our Fourth Annual Dinner this season so Members and their guests who turn up get a lecture from a prominent speaker, then a six-course dinner for less than half price, mainly subsidised by those that ignore the event! The numbers are limited, naturally, and there is always the option of attending only the lecture (free) and not the formal dinner (next best thing to free).

Regrettably, the credit crunch has hit us too, so we will not now be holding the "Celebration of Engineering Achievements" this season as part of National Science & Engineering Week in March 2009. However, this Region still intends to participate in our other engineering-related activities, particularly those promoting engineering to schools. Take a look at:

• Engineering Team Challenge – http://www.engineering-team-challenge.co.uk/
• Engineering Education Scheme Wales – http://www.eesw.org.uk/
• Technology Alliance Wales – http://www.tawales.com/

In conclusion, we are always looking for enthusiastic members who wish to be more involved in the Region’s activities. (Frankly, it looks very good on your curriculum vitae .) If you would like to support the Regional Committee, then do please contact our Hon. Secretary, Mr Robert Owen, or me. If you are under 30 years of age and would like to be at the centre of IMechE affairs, the Young Members Panel would like to hear from you – contact Mr Arit Shah, the YM’s South Wales Chairman.

Ian Weslake-Hill
Immediate Past Chairman & Region Administrator