The British Combinatorial Conference, 2nd-6th July 1973, held at Aberystwyth, was the fourth such conference held in Britain in the past decade.

Most lectures were of twenty to forty minutes duration. There were, however, four longer lectures from invited speakers. These four were H. Lüneburg (Kaiserslautern), C. St. J. A. Nash-Williams (Aberdeen), W. T. Tutte (Waterloo) and J, H. van Lint (Eindhoven).

It was envisaged that this conference should be one of a regular series, aimed at providing a forum for combinatorial mathematicians in Britain. It was also hoped that there would be considerable participation by mathematicians from outside Britain. That this hope was fulfilled is seen from the substantial number (thirty per cent) of such mathematicians attending.

We would like to thank the University College of Wales, and in particular its Department of Pure Mathematics, for the assistance given to the organisers both prior to, and during, the conference. We also wish to acknowledge, with gratitude, the financial assistance given by the Royal Society.