Roger Plymen (Manchester) was in the chair. The Secretary was Grant Walker (Manchester) and about 80 members attended the meeting.

1. The Minutes of the 49^th BMC, held at Royal Holloway, were approved.

2. There were no matters arising.

3. The Accounts of the 49^th BMC at Royal Holloway: these were approved.

4. Invitations to future Colloquia:
   Professor R W K Odoni issued an invitation for the 53^rd BMC to be held at The University of Glasgow from April 9 to April 12, 2001. This was carried by acclamation.
   The dates of future Colloquia:
   The 51^st BMC would be at Southampton, March 29 to April 1, 1999;
   the 52^nd BMC would be at Leeds, April 17 to April 20, 2000.

5. Election of Honorary Auditors: the treasurers of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society and of the London Mathematical Society were re-elected.

6. Election of an additional member of the Scientific Committee for 1998:
   Dr Catherine Hobbs of Oxford Brookes University was elected.

7. Any Other Business:
   There was a discussion on the timing of future BMCs. The absence of synchronisation between university calendars has resulted in congestion of conferences in the two weeks immediately before and after Easter. These include specialist meetings such as the British Topology Meeting and LMS Invited lectures, as well as the BMC and the BAMC (British Applied Mathematics Colloquium). Dr D J H Garling pointed out that it was important to establish dates of future meetings via the Diary page of the LMS Newsletter as early as possible, and preferably 3 years ahead.

   The relationship between the BMC and the BAMC was debated. The two colloquiua were being held concurrently at Manchester and Brunel in 1998, and this caused problems for exhibitors, which this year included EPSRC and the Computers in Teaching Initiative as well as publishers. Professor M Dunwoody suggested that an agreement might be struck by which one meeting was regularly held before Easter and the other held after Easter. The variation in the date of Easter was seen as a drawback to this. Professor J Howie proposed that amalgamation of the two meetings was desirable as a long term aim on mathematical grounds.

   Professor D Brannan and Dr A J Baker suggested that some form of joint meeting with the BAMC might be held as an experiment, perhaps in 2002. Dr Garling suggested that two parallel conferences might be held at the same time and place, with free transfer between the two. There could be a common theme for such parallel meetings, with perhaps a special session or some plenary lectures in common. Several speakers supported vigorous consultation with the BAMC in order to seek a way to carry these ideas forward.

   It was agreed that Prof Dunwoody (1999 BMC Chairman) would consult his opposite number in the BAMC to initiate this process, and that Dr G Walker (1998 BMC Secretary) would document the present discussion in the LMS Newsletter in order to open up the discussion in the mathematical community.
   

Minutes signed by Grant Walker, Secretary, 50^th BMC (undated).