UNITED KINGDOM Association NEWSLETTER

Recent Events

The AGM & Annual Reception
The Association's AGM and Annual Reception were held on 11 June at its traditional venue, the Penthouse Suite at New Zealand House. That was also the night of the dress rehearsal of 'Trooping the Colour' in Horse Guards Parade. However, I'm not sure how much anyone got to see of that from our prime vantage point as this year we were honoured by the presence of John Webster, the President of IPENZ, and Andrew Cleland, IPENZ CEO, who between them gave a presentation on their vision of the future of IPENZ, particularly in respect to the changes being brought about due to the recent passing onto NZ Law of the Chartered Professional Engineers Bill (which came into force on 1 July). This takes over from the Engineers Registration Act of 1924 (which goes out of force at the end of this year). The passing of this Bill will result in new challenges for IPENZ and its members as the requirements of the new Bill are put into practice. John and Andrew outlined some of the impacts CPEng will have on IPENZ.

This year's AGM marked the end of Gordon Weir's two year term as our Chairman and Malcolm Davidson stepped down from the office of Honorary Secretary after three years of admirable service. The Chairman's term of office is limited to two consecutive years by the Association's rules, although further terms as Chairman are permitted. On the other hand, returning to NZ has customarily been excepted as the only valid reason for vacating the office of Hon Sec. However, Malcolm believes moving to Edinburgh in sunny Scotland to be an equally valid excuse for vacating this position! We thank both Gordon and Malcolm for the work they have performed in their respective times in office and wish Malcolm and his family well in their move to Scotland. Graham Withers and Rachael Felton also stepped down from the committee, Graham after many years of service to the Association in the roles of Chairman and committee member, and Rachael because she and Tim are returning to NZ. We also thank both Graham and Rachael for their respective service to the Association. The results of the AGM 'elections' were as follows:

Chairman	Ian Kirker	Returns for another stint as Chairman
Honorary Secretary	Andrew Deluger	Newly elected
Honorary Treasurer	Selwyn Aickin	Re-elected
Honorary Auditor	Jock Stewart	Re-elected
Committee	Gordon Weir	Ex-officio as immediate past Chairman
	Graham Barber	Re-elected
	Lindsay Barr	Re-elected
	Malcolm Davidson	Welcome back!
	Jonathon Gammon	Newly elected
	Robert Minchin	Newly elected (recent past committee member)

Future Events

So put Sunday 11th August into your diary, come along to Henley Rowing Club and forget your worries while dangling your feet in the water and watching a slow moving scene of varied shapes and sizes of boats gliding past.

The details:

Location:	Henley-on-Thames Rowing Club, about a mile from the town centre across the river and right into Wargrave Road (A321) as shown on the enclosed map. Rail travelers use Thames trains from Paddington or Reading (via Twyford).
Date:	Sunday, 11 August 2002
Time:	12:00 noon onwards
Price:	£8.00 per head (children free) plus some help please with salads, deserts, and furniture as described below

Please gather your guests, complete the reply slip and return it without delay so that preparations for your delectation can proceed in good time. Melissa Kirker (Tel 0118 934 2437) has kindly volunteered to coordinate the salads and food offerings to avoid, as far as possible, imbalances in our provisions. This does not mean she is the caterer though! Please let her know what you propose to bring. In general, our requirements are:

From committee members and partners:	a salad or desert plate
From other members and partners:	a desert plate if you wish
From Everyone:	if you have them: garden chairs, tables, sun umbrellas, games All: a helping hand with the laying out of food, clearing up and the washing up at the end of the day

Other UK Association News

"In future, IPENZ will use the terms 'Initial Competency Assessment' (ICA) and 'Continuing Competency Assessment' (CCA) to categorise competency based assessments. The Initial Competency Assessment will refer to what has previously been called the 'Professional Practice Assessment', 'Professional Review' or 'Professional Interview', and is the assessment for initial entry to any competency?based membership class or register administered by IPENZ. Current Competency Assessment will refer to the on?going competency assessments required by the CPEng Act or the 'check?up' type assessments we conduct for applicants from overseas organisations seeking entry into IPENZ competency?based membership classes or those who completed requirements for Registration some years ago who now seek MIPENZ."

Subscriptions
Our current financial year commenced at the beginning of April. If you have not already returned your membership form, sent out with the last newsletter in April, now is a very good time to do it. Please remember to include your payment (people have been known to send back just their form without accompanying payment!). If you have lost the form or you just didn't get one, there is a generic copy of it available on the Association's website. If you do not have access to the Internet, please call either the Hon Sec or the Hon Tres, either of whom will be happy to send you a form. You can find their telephone numbers on the Association's website. OK, my little joke! Andrew's number is at the bottom of the front page and Selwyn's is (01483) 419 182.

Your Newsletter
"As always, contributions to the newsletter would be very much appreciated." You try putting one of these things together and you'll discover just what that little phrase means!

This really is your newsletter so please feel free to write an article to go into the next issue. This could, for example, be about your current or previous projects, any differences in British practice compared with NZ or how you resolved any particular difficulties you have encountered in the course of your work. Why not take this opportunity to promote your company's achievements. Also, if you have any news for us, events you'd like to promote or have heard about that may be of interest to others, any gossip or just plain lies that you would like us to tell people about in the newsletter, please email, fax or post them to the Hon. Secretary.

On behalf of all of us, this stand?in newsletter editor would like to express enormous gratitude to Malcolm Davidson for his efforts as newsletter editor over the past few years. Malcolm has stood down as newsletter editor due to pressure of other commitments and we are looking for someone to take on this important task. With the increase in the use of new technologies, increased support and publishing services available to us from IPENZ National Office in Wellington, the new newsletter editor will have an exciting time. Well, OK, 'exciting' might be pushing it a bit but it will entail a lot less work than it has been for previous editors and preparing one of these does provide a great sense of achievement. Believe me. So, if you would like to be the Editor, please contact the Hon. Secretary to discuss your terms and starting date (but, to save time, I can advise that the terms are you work for free, although genuine out?of?pocket expenses will be reimbursed, and the start date is now!).

Combined Technical Talk 2002
It is our turn this year to host the combined technical talk with the Aussies. Recent past speakers have been Ian Duncan on some aspects of the relationship between society and the disposal of radioactive waste and the well attended talk by Stuart Alexander on The World Trade Centre - Collapse and Aftermath.

If you know of anybody that would be prepared to talk to our combined Institutions on an engineering related topic, please contact the Hon. Secretary. It doesn't matter if we have an over supply of offers as it would be great to have more than one technical evening during the year. The same request is made regarding possibilities for site visits.

The Future of IPENZ UK Association
At present, although the IPENZ UK Association in many ways acts as a branch of IPENZ and is obviously closely affiliated with IPENZ, it is actually a separate entity from the NZ parent body. However, the structure of the IPENZ organisation in NZ is going through changes, including the way National Office treats the costs of supplying services to members and how branches operate and are funded by National Office in Wellington. Associated with these changes, there is a new set of rules for IPENZ which set out the types of organisations that may be part of or associated with IPENZ. We do not presently fit neatly into any of the structures presented in the new rules and we therefore need to adapt to remain an effective part of IPENZ to be able to continue providing the servcies of IPENZ to members on this side of the globe. Various options are available, including

(a)	disbanding the Association and become the UK (or even European) Branch of IPENZ
(b)	remaining a separate entity from the IPENZ parent body but with a set of rules and a funding structure that fits in with the IPENZ National Office requirements
(c)	other options!

These are important issues that your committee are working through in your interests. If you have any views on these issues, your committee would be pleased to receive them for consideration at up coming meetings where this matter will be discussed. Please be rest assured that the final decision will be made at either an AGM or a Special General Meeting of the Asociation at which all members will have the opportunity to air their views and to cast their vote on the outcome.

News From New Zealand

Dates for Your Diary

Annual Barbecue at Henley	Sunday, 11 August 2002
2002 Joint Technical Meeting with IEAust	TBC
2002 Graduates Evening	TBC but likely to be in November 2002
Christmas Soirée	December 2002

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