AGM and Annual Conference 2025
The 2025 AGM and Annual Conference was held online on 6 July 2025 using Zoom. The Conference was attended by twenty members.
Conference presentations
- Railways and metrication
- Metrication in the USA
- The move towards and away from using prototypes as measurement standards
- Metrication – Anniversaries 1975
AGM and Annual Conference 2024
The 2024 AGM and Annual Conference was held online on 7 July 2024 using Zoom. The Conference was attended by twenty-two members.
Highlights of the Conference included a presentation on ancient civilisations and their units, and a celebration of 1970s “METRIC PACKS” – the largely successful first stage of the metrication of food retail, in which it was noted that this week was the 50th anniversary of the first pre-packed food items to be officially sold in round metric, prescribed-quantity, pack sizes. The presentation thoroughly debunked the Government’s mendacious assertion, in 2022, that “The UK officially adopted the metric system in stages between 1995 and 1999.”
Conference presentations
- Units in mobile phone apps – Raphael Sofair
- How the ancients represented fractions – Martin Vlietstra
- Cost to metricate speed limits – Denis McMahon
British and ISO standards – A workshop led by Terry Simpson
AGM and Annual Conference 2023
The 2023 AGM and Annual Conference was held online on 2 July 2023 using Zoom. The Conference was attended by over twenty members.
Highlights of the Conference included the presence of our two brilliant patrons: There was a fifteen-minute discussion with Gavin Esler, and Jim Al-Khalili gave a fascinating talk followed by an interesting Q and A session.
AGM and Annual Conference 2022
The 2022 AGM and Annual Conference was held online on 3 July 2022 using Zoom.
The Conference was attended by twenty-one members. Peter Burke, UKMA’s new Chair, opened the proceedings by introducing the visiting speaker James Vincent. James is the author of Beyond measure: the hidden history of measurement.
The importance of measurement – Guest speaker, James Vincent
James’s talk began with examples from the distant past and concluded with a lament about the current situation in the UK. A transcript of his talk is available from the Secretary. It was followed by a lively discussion. The Conference then followed closely the programme emailed to members beforehand, with a discussion following each presentation.
The Government consultation on Choice on measurement units: markings and sales – Peter Burke
Following on from the TIGRR report, the Government is consulting on permitting the use of imperial measures only, with no metric equivalent, for certain activities. Peter explores the issue and bring us up-to-date.
Imperial residuals – Ronnie Cohen
Should we accept there will always be some imperial measures, such as dpi, lurking in backwaters of the economy? Should we focus only on the key issues, in particular road traffic signs?
Zoom’s chat facility allowed written comments to be made during the Conference. These appeared promptly on screen – there had been around 90 at the conclusion of the Conference.
Credit for the smooth running of the conference goes to Peter who not only chaired the event, but also dealt with the technicalities of Zoom.
UK Metric Association 