ELHAS Elects New President

The East Leeds History & Archaeology Society is delighted to announce that Bob Lawrence has been elected as its new president. Bob succeeds David Owens, a founder member of the society and president for the last 10 years. David has resigned the presidency following his move from Leeds. On his resignation David said he felt privileged to have been involved with the achievements of the society and proud of its place in the local community. Whilst sad to leave he knew he was leaving the society in good hands and was confident of its continued success.

Bob has been with the society for over nine years, most of those as a member of the directorate. He manages the displays in the East Leeds Heritage Centre based in Cross Gates library and introduced the Parish Records Look Up Service , a valuable resource used by family historians world wide. In 2005 Bob worked with the local area management teams of Leeds City Council, which led to the building of the memorial to the 'Barnbow Lasses' at Cross Gates roundabout. Last year as part of the 'Celebrate Leeds' activities and supported by Leeds City Council he published 'Smeaton of Austhorpe' a short history of the life and times of this famous East Leeds engineer.

Asked what he thought about the future of the society, Bob said, 'I am sorry to see Dave go, he will be sadly missed. However, we will continue to hold meetings, manage the displays in the Heritage Centre, and produce the twice yearly 'Leeds
History Journal'.

Bob working on the next issue of the 'Leeds History Journal'