I wrote my last column shortly after the Great Debate. This time it is a few weeks after the AGM in Sheffield, which I much enjoyed, and I hope others did too. In recent years the AGM has become the main means whereby the HA can get together as a whole. For me it is very rewarding to meet representatives of all its constituencies at the same time, and to sense the collective energy in our association. We try hard to make it an event for all. I am in the enviable position  of being able to attend a wide variety of sessions aimed at different audiences. Those of us who teach in HE could learn a lot from the secondary sessions.

In the foyer I picked up the useful joint publication of the HA and the Higher Education Academy History Subject Centre on transition from A level to HE, an excellent example of what can be achieved together. The value of collaboration - in this case between academics at Sheffield Hallam and community groups - is also evident in the fascinating project funded by the HLF on woodlands around our host city. For someone of my age the session on the History of Education Project could not fail to bring back memories not only of those teachers whose small handwriting across three blackboards we copied in silence but also of those who fired my imagination and above all my curiosity.