Spring Conferences in the 1950s and 1960s

More images of finds in the GA Archive in Solly Street. I need to spend some more time exploring these documents to see who was involved in presenting the sessions and any other secondary details locked away in their contents... All I had time to do was capture their front cover showing the different venues and Presidents overseeing them e.g. the Spring Conference of 1962 was hosted by Stanley Henry Beaver at Keele University.

These are the front covers of some of the programmes from back in the day. Part of the albums on my Flickr account.

Also a Summer School brochure. Another initiative that no longer takes place. These were organised from the GA's HQ at the time: the Park Branch Library. In 1959, they took place in Spain and Switzerland.

Spring Conference Programmes

A few from the archives at Solly Street.

Spring Conferences were a theme for some decades. Some well known names and former Presidents involved in these particular events. More detail to come as time permits once I visit Solly Street again.

The last one was held in the year I was born. Note the address of the GA at the time: at the Park Branch Library on Duke Street.

Also note Marguerita Oughton, who has been mentioned on the blog.

Thought for the Day from 1966

In 1966, HMI for Geography J W Morris gave a talk on the geography in the schools of tomorrow at the GA's Spring Conference. A piece from his session:


Important work we do as geography teachers!

1966: Geography in the Schools of Tomorrow

J W Morris was the HMI Staff Inspector for Geography when he gave this address to the 1966 Spring GA Conference.

Quite a lot of what he had to say still resonates today.

He described three issues which needed attending to - I wonder how many are still relevant:

The first was teacher subject knowledge and ensuring that it is up to date.




The second was cross-curricular working and thinking.



The third was also an interesting one: the role of fieldwork.

He talked about the vital role of particular GA Committees, and flagged up the work of Dr Gladys Hickman. He also mentioned the Schools Council's work at the time.

He ended with a reminder of a few familiar themes which are still relevant in 2020....

"..... if the work of teachers is to be fruitful it needs co-ordination, a regular exchange of ideas, a sharing of experience. The time is ripe for a new drive for good communications and professional unity among geography teachers in the years of change that lie ahead..."

References
MORRIS, J. W. “Geography in the Schools of Tomorrow.” Geography, vol. 51, no. 4, 1966, pp. 309–317. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40566156. Accessed 12 Apr. 2020.

1964: A Scilly excursion

1964: Nearly disastrous expedition from the Falmouth Spring Conference to the Scilly Isles, in the SS Scillonian - one of the roughest passages for many years. 

This passage in Peter Fox's chronology intrigued me.
At the time there were some summer and spring field excursions, which were very popular as they predated (just) the main travel agents / package holiday business.

The excursion formed part of the 1964 Spring Conference in April, which took place in Cornwall.


You woll see reference to many former Presidents in the speakers list, including David Leslie Linton. who will be coming up next in 1964, talking about tors and granite, which must have been a great pleasure for those involved.

It seems that there was a voyage on a ship to the Scilly Isles which encountered particularly rough weather.


Source: “The Geographical Association.” Geography, vol. 49, no. 3, 1964, pp. 346–348. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40566391. Accessed 22 Apr. 2020.

1938: Spring Conference in Durham

Around this time, there were changes to the GA conference in terms of timing and also format. This was more peripatetic than the current circus between Manchester, Guildford and Sheffield (the city I hoped my own Presidential year would be held in, but it was not to be)

The 1938 conference was held in Durham.
The President, Thomas Henry Holland, gave a lecture on Continental Drift, which must have been cutting edge stuff at the time.

There were also guests from various countries, including Norway and France.
A lot of the conference was on the theme of the Durham region, and the fieldtrip to the industrial highlights of the region sounded good.

"It is doubtful whether the Association has ever had a more important gathering, or one so closely linked with the main sdtreams of local life".

Reference
“THE SPRING CONFERENCE, 1938.” Geography, vol. 23, no. 2, 1938, pp. 126–127. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40561786