The idea to form a Club had been regularly mulled over since the early 1980’s, but it was not until the summer of 1995, that a group of Greek Engineer friends, based in the UK and predominantly Graduates from Newcastle and Sunderland, conclusively decided to form a  “Club of Greek Engineers”  with its main goal to maintain social contact amongst its widely spread membership.  Later that year, the first General Assembly was held, at which time, the official name of  “Hellenic Engineers Society of Great Britain”  was endorsed, the Society’s statutes were formulated and the first Governing Committee was elected.

From inception, the aim of the Society has been to nurture and promote professional and social contact amongst its members and particularly younger members, newly positioned within the shipping industry.  This is achieved by holding informal gatherings, providing a forum for exchanging views on technical matters and by organising numerous social and cultural events.

The Society started off with around eighty Founding Members and since then has increased in membership year on year, firmly establishing its presence within the UK maritime industry.  In fact, just as Greek shipping history goes back over 4,000 years, we are proud to report that our Society’s membership has a collective experience within the industry exceeding 4,000 years.

At the same time, we have also been privileged to welcome into our ranks a number of non-Engineer Associate Members, who have wished to actively participate and support our Society’s functions and thus broadening our influence even further.

2009 was truly memorable in our Society’s brief history.  Our new logo was introduced to critical acclaim, based on the trireme , the ancient Greek warship which was fast, agile and state of the art, all attributes we wish to emulate three millennia later.  Our website was also revamped and relaunched bringing our members even closer together.  Finally, our very first event outside the UK borders, was held in Athens in November in conjunction with Newcastle University.

This new decade sees both the wider industry and the Society facing new challenges and looking forward to achieving new successes.  Global financial volatility, environmental concerns and the threat to security, affect all of us both collectively and as individuals.  Nevertheless, I am confident that our new Governing Committee, to be elected in the next few months, will be more than able to meet such issues, drawing on a mixture of experience and innovation reflecting our Society’s broader membership.

Dimitris Monioudis

President