The Western Canada Group of
Chartered Engineers
Social Functions
Program
We hold two regular social functions over the course of each year. Our Annual Dinner follows immediately after our Annual General Meeting, held in late January each year at a downtown Vancouver hotel. Our Summer Barbecue has been held every July at a member's residence in North Vancouver for a number of years. Other social functions may be organised from time to time.
Full details of the above events will be mailed to all members well in advance, usually included with the edition of the ChallEnge published immediately prior to the event. We will also publish full details in the STOP PRESS section of the home page of this Website, as soon as they are known.
The Dinner,provides an opportunity for members and accompanying persons to blow away the January Blues and enjoy a full-course dinner in the company of their peers, followed by entertaining presentations.
The origins of the barbecue are perhaps worth a word of explanation. There is of course only one group of people in Western Canada who are qualified to conduct an annual inspection on a 1950s pattern GPO call office which was 'liberated' from the UK by your webmaster in 1992 and re-installed in darkest North Van. Since many of these boxes have now been 'listed' in Britain by the heritage buildings commission, we feel obligated to make sure 'our' one is being maintained in good order in case it becomes the subject of a future extradition order. The addition of a 'convention centre' (Gazebo) to the 'communications centre' (phone box) in 1997 provided further opportunities for technical evaluation.
Civil engineers are expected to verify the phone box/gazebo foundations are still OK. Structurals should check the framing of the gazebo. Mechanicals must inspect the integrity of the cast iron phone box assembly and particularly the pneumatic door closer (which of course controls the fire exit!). Electricals must check the condition of the extension cords providing power to the garden structures and test the phone. Building Services Engineers need to make sure there are still 76 panes of unbroken glass in the phone kiosk, the lights, heaters and background music systems all work properly, and that the structures get a lick of paint from time to time. The handmade beverage contest is a recent addition which permits chemical engineers to evaluate batch production methods using the well known 'comparative taste test'.
Having completed the above, which can sometimes take as long as, ooh, 30 seconds, we and our spice adjourn for 'refreshments' and spend the rest of the evening discussing matters which are totally off-topic.