Into the final furlong…last night, as is common on the final evening of conference, the subject associations hold their AGMs before the quiz.

This is one of those times where the problems of having so many separate associations are brought into the spotlight. As a case in point, given that it is not possible to attend more than one, in the interests of fairness, I have always tried to alternate my attendance  at the MA and ATM AGMs.

Inevitably in recent years the most hotly-debated issue has been the potential merger of the 5 associations into a single voice – AMiE. From what I can tell, this looks more likely than not to happen, and conversations I have had during the conference seem to confirm this, though there is clearly still a lot of work ahead.

This year, I realised that despite having been a member, I had never attended the AGM of NAMA, the National Association of Maths Advisors, so duly headed there.

It was nice to do something different – and having been an advisor, I obviously like NAMA’s philosophy.

Following the AGM I went to the quiz (via the supermarket to get some beers- the food at this hotel has been superb, but the drinks prices are a disgrace).

I enjoyed it, particularly the dingbats round, but as usual did not really trouble the scorers, and am still kicking myself for not working out 2TD and 38SP…

This morning I cycled down to the station to pick up my pre-booked ticket. There is a train strike so my ticket is only valid on a train that is not now running. Ho hum.

I thought I would try out the pool, steam room and Jacuzzi before heading to breakfast, where I bumped into Ems Lord in her running gear. We worked out that between us we had already done a triathlon this morning…

Just when I thought Ems could not be any higher in my estimation, she revealed that she is a fanatical cyclist, and owns an amazing number of bikes. I promised not to reveal the exact number, so let’s just say it’s a bit more than 15 and a bit less than 17…

Bad news: the rail strike means I will have to leave earlier than planned, so after breakfast I apologised to Anne Watson and John Mason that i would have to miss their closing plenary. Anne told me that their slides would be on their website – so for anyone else who has to leave early, they will shortly be available here.

Not much more to say – during session 1 this morning I will be at a Maths Week England Committee meeting, then I am co-presenting with Liz Gibbs where we are talking about our research project into Mental Maths so can’t really say much about how great that will be…

This has felt one of the best conferences for a long time – friendly, lots of variety, excellent venue (other than aforementioned drink prices), and a strong sense of collaboration. I felt there was more of a focus on what unites us rather than our differences, and that has to be a good thing.

That’s it for this year – I hope you have enjoyed the blogs from Stratford, and it only remains for me to thank the amazing ATM and MA staff for all their hard work. I am sure they are all fed up with me and my stupid questions and disorganised approach, but they always have the good grace to hide it well.

So Karens, Alice, Sandi and everyone – you have the respect and gratitude of not just me, but of lots of tired but happy mathematicians. x