British Weights and Measures Association

The current British Weights and Measures Association, or BWMA, is a pressure group established in the United Kingdom (UK) in 1995, founded by Vivian Linacre . The current body was established in 1995, but there had also been a predecessor organisation, also called the BWMA, that was established in 1904, and lapsed after the First World War.

Aim of the BWMA

The BWMA's stated aim is to uphold the freedom to use the Imperial system and to oppose the compulsory imposition of the Metric system in the UK. However, by the time of the modern BWMA's founding in 1995, British schoolchildren had been educated using only metric measures since 1974 (earlier in some places), and British industry had changed to using metric tools and equipment during the 1980's and were in most cases manufacturing to metric standards since about that time.

Campaigns

• BWMA maintain that people should be free to use the metric system if they want, but that it should not be forced upon them. and specifically, the Association campaigns for freedom for traders to serve their customers in whichever measures both parties find most convenient.

• BWMA campaigns against the metrication of road signs and in 2009 published their response to a consultation hosted by the UK's Department for Transport which discussed a proposal to require compulsory dual Metric/Imperial signage of height limits and width limits. BWMA's responded that dual-units signage should not be made compulsory, and that the legal provisions (from the 1980s) allowing voluntary dual-units signage should be repealed so that only Imperial units could be displayed. This, the BWMA claimed, was to "avoid confusion." (However, the BWMA also asserts that people should be free to choose whichever measurement system that they find most convenient.)

• BWMA support the Metric Martyrs - a group of traders prosecuted for their defiance of the Weights and Measures Act and the Price Marking Order.

• BWMA gives detailed advice on how traders can circumvent regulations mandating metric weights and measures.

• BWMA members have published a number of books arguing for customary measures. These include The General Rule by BWMA President Vivian Linacre (Squeeze Press) and About the Size of It by Warwick Cairns.

Opponents

• These actions contrast with the UK Metric Association (UKMA), which campaigns for compulsory Metrication in the United Kingdom for all legal and official purposes, including trade and road signs.

• The BWMA has published a "rogues' gallery" of those they label "Metric Culprits." These include a long list of individuals and bodies that have advocated or supported metrication, including the Irish Minister for Transport, Martin Cullen, who metricated road signs in the Irish Republic in 2005.

Patrons and Honorary members

Patrons

• Gwyneth Dunwoody (1930–2008)
• Vice-Admiral Sir Louis Le Bailly
• Sir Patrick Moore (b. 1923)
• John Monson, 11th Baron Monson (1932–2011)

Honorary members

Peter Alliss (b.1931) Clive Anderson (b. 1952) Trevor Bailey (1923–2011) Michael Barry Christopher Booker (b. 1937) Ian Botham (b. 1955) Max Bygraves (b. 1922) Beryl Cook (1926–2008 ) Jilly Cooper (b. 1937) Richard Demarco (b. 1930) Roy Faiers Ranulph Fiennes (b. 1944) Edward Fox (b. 1937) Dick Francis (1920–2010) George MacDonald Fraser (1925–2008) Sandy Gall (b. 1927) Simon Heffer (b. 1960) Peter Hitchens (b. 1951)

Jools Holland (b. 1958) Richard Holmes (b. 1946) Richard Ingrams (b. 1937) Dr. James Le Fanu (b. 1950) Candida Lycett Green (b. 1942) Jonathan Lynn (b. 1943) Richard Mabey (b. 1941) Christopher Martin-Jenkins (b. 1945) Robin Page (b. 1932) Andrew Phillips, Baron Phillips of Sudbury (b. 1939) William Poole Tim Rice (b. 1944) Andrew Roberts (b. 1963) J.K. Rowling (b. 1965) Quinlan Terry (b. 1937) Antony Worrall Thompson (b. 1951) Keith Waterhouse (1929–2009)

See also

• UK Metric Association
• Metrication in the UK
• Metric Martyrs

References

• Cairns, Warwick (2007). About the Size of It: The Common Sense Approach to Measuring Things, Macmillan, ISBN 978-0230016286
• Linacre, Vivian (2007). The General Rule: A Guide to Customary Weights and Measures , The Squeeze Press, ISBN 978-1906069018

External links

• BMWA's official website