The Institution’s Annual Dinner – a celebration at The Dorchester

Colleagues and friends celebrated a year of engineering achievement in the sumptuous surroundings of The Dorchester, Park Lane, on 21 November.

After a drinks reception and opportunities for the 377 guests to network informally, the tables were seated and proceedings began.

The evening’s host and President of the Institution, Patrick Kniveton FIMechE, welcomed guests and confirmed that it has been an exceptional time for the Institution, reminding them that earlier this year, it had been announced that in 2012 the Institution had achieved: “The highest number of new registrants in the combined grades of Engineering Technician, Incorporated Engineer and Chartered Engineer, plus the most newly registered female Chartered Engineers of any of the professional engineering institutions in the UK. This is proof that more engineers than ever before value membership of this Institution.”

Patrick assured the assembled guests: “We will continue to work hard to ensure our members have an Institution of which they can be proud.”

Stephen Tetlow MBE, Institution CEO, congratulated those whose personal achievements in engineering, and valuable contributions in promoting the importance of engineering to colleagues and future young engineers, has gained them the title of Visionaries.

The Vision Award 2013 winners were invited to accept their awards to the applause of the room: Timothy Kyte, EngTech Visionary, who is Apprentice Training Manager at the Manufacturing Technology Centre; Ross Henrywood AMIMechE, Undergraduate Visionary, in the second year of his PhD studying rectangular jet noise, in collaboration with Dyson; Abbie Hutty AMIMechE, Young Member Visionary, a Spacecraft Structures Engineer at Astrium; Rachael Hoyle, Whitworth Visionary, Fleet Operations and Integration Manager for Salam at BAE Systems. Lynsey McKee EngTech Affiliate member, Apprentice of the Year, who is building on the training and development she has gained at Doosan Babcock in Renfrew, was also congratulated.

After a delicious dinner of Emmental soufflé, braised shank of lamb, and caramelised chocolate mousse, the evening’s keynote speaker, Colin Smith CBE FREng, Director Engineering and Technology, Rolls Royce took the stage. To a great reception from the evening’s guests, Colin gave a most entertaining and inspiring speech, which made the serious point, however, that engaging young children to open up to science and engineering, should be one of the key aims for today’s educators.

Patrick Kniveton, his colleague at Rolls-Royce, followed Colin with a call to all engineers to express pride in their skills and achievements, because the work of engineers brings benefits for our whole society.

Somewhat less serious points were made by Jon Culshaw, comedian and master impressionist. Guests were delighted by the myriad different voices he displayed, from politicians to fellow comedians and actors and TV personalities. He gave some great insights into the challenges of impersonating people and how a persona must change with the times. Jon was an incredibly popular after-dinner speaker, and charmed the evening’s audience from the stage, as well as when he mingled with guests before and after dinner in the Ballroom.

Many praised the wonderful evening they had enjoyed, and the entertainment value of the speakers. Adam Stables MEng MIMechE, of Babcock International Group summed up, saying: ‘It was the first time that I have attended the event and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it. The food was delicious, the venue was fantastic, the speeches were extremely entertaining and very interesting and I was in great company throughout.”

The Institution thanks all those who attended and contributed to the evening, providing another year’s success for the Institution and a celebratory atmosphere at the prestigious Annual Dinner.

The Institution would like to thank the event’s sponsors for their valued support: Angel Trains, Ansys, Zurich Engineering, Spitfire Consultancy, Jaguar Land Rover, Parsons Brinkerhoff, H B C Vehicle Services, Knorr-Bremse RailServices, Xodus Group, AWE, E.on, GDF Suez Energy UK, Meggitt, AVL PowerTrain, Babcock International Group, Allianz Engineering, Eminox, Air Products and Chemicals, Entrepreneurial Engineers.

Register for the 2014 Annual Dinner

The Institution of Mechanical Engineers’ Annual Dinner 2014 will be held on Thursday 20 November at The Dorchester, London. Further details will shortly become available.

To register your interest and find out more