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PICKING UP THREADS

This was written in
2007
so is now very dated

The start of the Mathghan projects happened to coincide with MathsYear2000. We were already booked to attend several events across the country and, at most of them, we added practical knitting sessions to the activities we had already planned. The events took place in a variety of venues ranging from schools to shopping centres to football grounds. There were mathematical clowns, mathematical magicians, paper folders, bridge builders and many other mathematical performers out to grab the attention of the general public and presenting Maths in a fun, and unthreatening way. There were exciting and innovative events throughout the year.

Of all the events we attended two deserve special mention. The first was at a school in Oldham. Although it took place in a High School, droves of younger pupils came in from elsewhere. We persuaded a fearful Mark Barnes to be with us. We met him at the school and he arrived looking a typical business man. MathsYear2000 T-shirts and baseball caps had been provided for helpers at all events so we made sure Mark’s were waiting for him when he arrived. He looked rather sceptical but decided to enter into the spirit of the event and changed his jacket, shirt and tie for the t-shirt. Much to my amazement, he opened a cupboard at the back of the classroom we had been allocated, took out a coat hanger and hung his clothes in the cupboard. No teacher would ever expect to find such facilities in a classroom but somehow Mark knew he would find exactly what he needed.  

The rest of the morning was a joy. We had a group of nine and ten year olds, predominantly boys and some with language difficulties. Mark sat at the table with them, worked through the activities along with them and ended the morning with a very much better understanding of why this practical Maths is so valuable. Unfortunately, he was not able to stay all day as he had to go to a meeting with the bosses of some of the other large yarn companies. He put on his jacket before he left but proudly wore his MathsYear2000 t-shirt underneath.

The other really special event was at Manchester City’s Maine Road football ground. We first went to Maine Road a few weeks before the event, after being invited by the organiser. The organisers of all the events for the year were volunteers with little or no experience of such events. This particular event was to be a spectacular one. The organiser had a mammoth task on his hands and wanted some moral support. He invited a few of the ‘performers’, who lived within striking distance, to lunch at Maine Road and to give opinions on his plans. Everything was well in hand and we were asked if we could provide eye-catching hangings for the whole ground floor of the stand. This was a very long barren space with shutters and grilles, concealing various football ground facilities, interspersed with expanses of bare walls. It needed a bit of initiative to work out where, and how, we could hang anything but we eventually found enough places where we could fasten hooks, poles and chains so that on the day we could arrive armed with all the necessary hardware.

18d. AFGHANS & MATHGHANS continued