I was pretty good at maths at school. I really enjoyed the subject mainly because we had a maths teacher who really brought maths to life! That may sound odd. A potentially dull and boring subject made interesting by a school master who inspired his pupils by sheer enthusiasm. As a result his classes always achieved the best O and A level results for miles around.
But that was many years ago when we all did our calculations in 'old money'. Pounds, shillings and pence. Inches, feet and yards. Ounces and pounds. It was so much easier then! I've accepted decimal coinage but I still struggle with grams and millimetres!
And there was no better example than yesterday morning at Westbridge Park. The Food and Drink Festival takes place in a couple of months and we are now designing the layout of the marquees and stands. Stafford Borough Council are anxious that we should do everything possible to protect the football pitches from damage from vehicles so we are trying out a new layout this year. The problem arises because the marquees are all quoted in imperial measures. And the measuring wheel we use gives a reading in metres! So we spent an age trying to work out how many metres equalled two hundred feet length by forty feet width and then plotting it on the field.
I think we eventually got it right but I've now got to draw up the layout onto a plan to the scale of 1:50,000 (I think!). Now this is where I'm really struggling!
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