Welcome to the South Eastern Counties Branch

SOUTH EASTERN COUNTIES BRANCH
(ESTABLISHED IN 1985)

The Branch was created in 1985 according to the Institution`s policy to have local branches in areas where they could be well supported by members. An inaugural meeting was held in Croydon in 1985, to demonstrate such support. It would seem that the members were right at that time, since the Branch has continued to serve them year after year with technical meetings on various subjects, CPD courses, Chartered Membership examination preparation courses and representation on key committees at 11 Upper Belgrave Street.

The Branch has Croydon as its nucleus of activities, as far as technical meetings, training courses and committee meetings are concerned. However, some meetings are held at other venues, e.g. Chatham (University of Greenwich) and Otford Village Memorial Hall (near Sevenoaks).

East-West public transport links across the Branch are limited and our technical meetings are often in competition with those at the Headquarters. In the past, these factors have appeared to influence attendance at our technical meetings. In the year 2006-07, we have had good attendance at our technical meetings (60+) - thanks to the quality of speakers, emailing facility and efficent issue of flyers from the HQ. (At Professor Malcolm Bolton's presentation in January 2007, there were more than 120 members and guests.)

In keeping with the IStructE policy of establishing closer contacts with our membership, we have set up three regional centres with the help of our local members. They mainly hold discussions on common and general issues, compared with lectures on specific subjects presented at Branch technical meetings and CPD seminars. The local groups are called Bromley Forum, East Kent Group and Kingston Discussion Group. The group meetings are held at Bromley Civic Centre, Canterbury and Kingston University(Penrhyn Road Campus) respectively.