The RIDBA Board is delighted to award Honorary Membership to long-serving member, Jim Loynes, BSc (Hons) CEng MIAgrE . RIDBA Chairman, James Anthony said: “Jim’s commitment to the industry and RIDBA is second to none and he is thoroughly deserving of this honour.”
Jim first heard about the Farm Buildings Association (FBA) while at college when his buildings lecturer, Paul Douglas, mentioned it in his lectures. Then, a couple of years after graduating in 1979, Jim took up a position as, Technical Information Officer, at the Farm Buildings Information Centre. There, under the guidance of ex-ADAS advisor, Arthur Cowin, and his manager, Bruce Brockway, he became a regular attendee at local FBA events and presentations. Jim toured around the country collecting information for their journal, the Farm Buildings Digest.
The NAC hosted many FBA committee meetings at the FBIC offices. Jim said, “I was fortunate to meet many ‘leading lights’ in the FBA – far too many to mention here – but I will never forget the likes of Roger Sayce, Bill Marshall, David Souter and Sir Pat Astley-Cooper and many more, who all made a lasting impression on me and ultimately influenced my career in ‘Rural Buildings.’”
In the late 1980’s, the FBIC was renamed as the Farm and Rural Buildings Centre (FRBC), and the FBA, which appeared to be going through similar difficult times, changed its name to the Rural Design and Buildings Association (RDBA) in an attempt to encourage new members to join. Also around that time, FBIC and FBA were very much involved in continuing to foster good design and high building standards in rural buildings. Thus the ‘trade’ organisation, the Agricultural Construction Industry Liaison Group (ACILG), was formed to promote BS5502: Buildings and Structures for Agriculture.
In 1984 Jim joined the ADAS Farm Buildings Group as a technical officer and moved to Leeds, where he worked under the leadership of Bill Dempsey. He quickly progressed to become a Senior Consultant, and finally the National Livestock Building Specialist. During this time, ADAS had been working towards privatisation, at the direction of the Government, and the organisation he had been in for nearly 14 years became a separate company in 1997.
In September 1997, Jim took up a post as, Senior Lecturer, in Farm Buildings and Environmental Engineering at Harper Adams University College. The college became a fully-fledged university, under the Chancellorship of HRH Princess Anne in December 2012, and is now known as Harper Adams University (HAU). He worked at Harper for 20 years as Head of the Engineering Department, and after having a stroke in 2008, he stepped down, becoming the Associate Head of Department until his retirement on 1st September 2017.
Jim said: “I have been associated with and a ‘member’ of RIDBA for over 35 years and I feel very proud that this commitment has been recognised in the award of honorary membership – thank you very much. Although I am busy doing odd jobs here and there I am really enjoying my ‘retirement’ and again wish to thank my RIDBA associates for all your support and friendship over the years and, in particular, the honour you have bestowed upon me!”
