The Best Job in the World?

Scottish Branch Technical Meeting

Picture shows ICME National President, Peter Nix, Dr Peter Hughes and Dr Tom Paterson, Scottish Branch President.

Dr Tom Paterson welcomed National President Peter Nix to our November Technical Meeting as well as the speaker, Dr Peter Hughes, a Past President of the Scottish Branch and Past National President.

Dr Peter Hughes, Chief Executive of Scottish Engineering, then presented his paper entitled “Scottish Engineering- The Best Job in the World”.

Peter went on to inform the meeting of all the engineering we had in Scotland and how much we still put into the Scottish export market in engineering. Peter presented figures to show how the order and output volumes are constantly increasing quarter over quarter. He also gave a report that showed we in Scotland were increasing our overall staffing levels which also shows the increase in a trained and qualified workforce.

Peter is constantly involved in discussions with both Scottish and UK Government ministers, lobbying these ministers on the importance of keeping Engineering in Scotland, as we are always under the impression that successive Governments do not want or like 'dirty' manufacturing.

Peter has a great passion for showing young people how they can progress in engineering. He is about to start another tour of Secondary Schools in Scotland promoting and motivating young people in Engineering. One of the methods he uses is to take along a selection of musical instruments and show the amount of engineering that goes into producing these. Peter is also an accomplished musician. At the end of our meeting he asked one of our members, Ian Walker, who does not play any instrument, to allow him to teach him to play an Auto-Harp. After a few minutes he had Ian playing a simple tune on the Harp.

After a lengthy question and answer session Ian Young OBE gave the vote of thanks.
Ceramco Ltd. sponsored the buffet.

Branch AGM - Tom Paterson handed the meeting over to Secretary Willie Howson who opened the AGM by introducing George Beattie, the branch treasurer. George presented the balance sheet and explained the funds. Billy Hunter gave the Auditors report. John Brough proposed the accounts and Ian Young seconded them.