A cross-posting from my GA Presidents blog.
I was only due to be at the GA Conference for one day, which meant an early start for the drive over to Oxford from Norfolk. It's a real cross-country faff. Luckily I'd made some arrangements for parking which was easy enough to reach and close to the main social event of the trip.
I was there for the Long Standing members meal. This is an annual lunch which is paid for by a previous member which allows those who are going along to the conference to meet up with former Presidents of the Association and network.
Here's a picture taken at the restaurant where the meal was held. The food was delicious. There are quite a few former Presidents in the image. How many can you name?
After that, it was a taxi up to Oxford Brookes University: the conference venue.
I didn't plan to attend any sessions other than one... and I arrived too late for that one, but managed to speak to David Lambert who was presenting it.
What I really wanted to do was spend the four hours-ish I had there to catch up with as many people as possible. I managed to catch up with lots of former GA colleagues and the team that helped me when I was President, and current RGS colleagues, Primary legends such as Sharon Witt, Anthony Barlow, Stephen Scoffham and Steve Rawlinson and many more besides. Particularly nice to chat to John Wilkinson and David Balderstone, Andrew Lee and Hermione Miao.
I also met up with Tom Collins from the Environment Agency who I worked with on a forthcoming project for over a year but had never met in person, and folks from various publishers and lovely to see Cath Rule from Rayburn Tours as well.
There were at least 20 other people I chatted to, you know who you are - they include teachers, publishers and other geographers :)
After that, I got the bus back into the centre, and got off outside Christ Church College, where the GA began in 1893, and then to the Rose and Crown where I had a drink and chat with Phil from Wychwood School, who had kindly provided the parking place for me. Good to catch up and have a drink before the return journey which was going well until I found that the A47 was closed overnight... ideal...
Next year is Sheffield. I look forward to seeing what the venue is along with theme etc.
A few things from the tweets:
This is my tree Carbon calculator that I shared at my talk. #GAConf25 🌳
— TeachGeogs 🌍 (@TeachGeogs) April 17, 2025
Have a go! Good for in the field crunching. https://t.co/3KmZi3jm3D pic.twitter.com/Y1kDvk6xKM
And this session looked really good...
#ConnectedGeographies epitomised by a fascinating live link up with Alex of @detroitography from the USA-Canada border in @alicelouisegrif's session 'Moving beyond the Drosscape: insider perspectives on Detroit' @The_GA #GAConf25
— BC (@mildthing99) April 17, 2025
e.g. hand model of #HubAndSpoke urban morphology pic.twitter.com/ozWlvBW78L
Check out Detroitography.
Reminds me of Rebecca Solnit's three American atlas projects, which I have copies of.
