Communities Committee UK Chairman’s welcome

Hi and welcome to the IET communities within the UK.

The IET has recognised that the old boundaries between, for example, local groups of the IET (Local Networks) and the technical groups (TPNs) were getting in the way of doing good stuff. As volunteers and staff, we all just want to get on with things and co-operate as much as we can. So we've reorganised and there's now just one committee looking after these and other groups within the UK. That's the Communities Committee UK, which I have the honour of chairing.

The important thing is of course the actual stuff that gets done by members for members and the public. This means meetings, events, publicising engineering, encouraging more children to consider an engineering career and of course adding new members to the IET. The CC-UK exists to facilitate this work, to gently guide and to help where ever possible. It also looks after budget allocations working within the overall budgets set by the Community Resource Committee to whom it reports.

So what do we want to assist members to do?

• Run useful events of relevance to members and the public
• To work together across the various bits of the IET in the UK
• To help raise the profile of engineering to our various audiences
• To be professional in all that we do
• And of course to enjoy ourselves while doing all of this

We welcome your suggestions and ideas. If there are things which can be improved, we want to hear about them. We're also here to help solve problems, so please tell us about these too.

And we don't just sit in Savoy Place. The CC-UK comprises volunteers and members just like you. If you want to contact us, please do. And we're also delighted to visit your part of the IET, to understand the world as you see it and to help where we can.

Keep your eyes open for some interesting events during the year and we look forward to seeing you.

Alan Watts, CEng FIET
Chairman CC-UK