IAGRE'S ALASTAIR TAYLOR RETIRES

IAGRE'S ALASTAIR TAYLOR RETIRES
Party held at Cranfield University
by Chris Biddle, Service Dealer Founder

IAgrE (Institution of Agricultural Engineers) held a party on Tuesday 17 September for Alastair Taylor to mark his retirement as Chief Executive on 1 September.

Alastair Taylor with IAgrE President Professor Jane Rickson

The event held at Mitchell Hall, Cranfield University, was attended by over 50 staff, IAgrE members and industry guests. These included Alastair Taylor’s predecessor at IAgrE Chris Whetnall and the new IAgrE CEO, Ed Hansom. Amongst the guests were Keith Hawken from Agricultural Engineers Association (AEA), former AEA CEO Roger Lane-Nott and Keith Christian, Director of British Agricultural and Garden Machinery Association (BAGMA).

Alastair Taylor took up his post in 2013, become the 15th CEO or Secretary of the Institution since its formation in 1938. Welcoming the guests, IAgrE President Professor Jane Rickson, paid tribute to Alastair’s total commitment during his 6-year term. “He has effectively promoted the Institution at every opportunity,” she said, “and ensured that the voice of this relatively small professional body is regularly heard at the ‘top-table’ of our profession such as the policy committee of the Royal Academy of Engineering”.

In his reply, Alastair Taylor paid tribute to the support of the IAgrE Presidents who had supported him during his term, to the committees (“We often had a healthy level of straight-talking but always constructive debate on the way forward”), to the IAgrE head office staff (“I could not have had a more committed and professional support team, and owe them a huge amount of thanks and gratitude”) and to his wife Linda (“living in Shropshire, working in Cranfield and with copious travel living much of the time out of suitcase, I look forward to a more normal married life”).

Keith Hawken, on behalf of AEA CEO Ruth Bailey, presented Alastair with a glass engraved plaque before being presented with a collection fund from members to buy an electric bike and a specially made cake depicting a signal box on the Severn Valley Railway where Alastair is a volunteer signalman.