the Queen Mother. Huge queues to view the floral designs and this in turn led to an upsurge in membership of flower clubs. As well as exhibiting at Chelsea each of the now seven Areas (North East Area was formed in 1957 and North West Area soon after) held shows in their own regions to great acclaim. Over the next few years the RHS Floral Decoration Committee produced lists of judges, teachers and demonstrators of flower arranging to help clubs organise their programmes and shows and by 1958 it was realised that a separate organisation should be formed. On 26 January 1959 the serving members of the RHS Flower Arrangement Committee agreed to form a Caretaker Committee under the proposed name, The National Association of Flower Arrangement Societies of Great Britain (NAFAS). They had three immediate tasks: to draft a constitution, to accumulate funds and to set up a central administration. The constitution was drafted by Mary and Bill Gough, with advice from the RHS. For funding, the RHS provided a venue, free of charge, for The Festival of Floral Decoration held on 14 and 15 July 1959. There was both a competitive section and non-competitive section that resulted in a profit of £800 and much publicity gained. By the end of 1959 a new area was formed, Three Counties & South Wales, from clubs originally in the South West Area and the Midlands. The Association was by now employing a part-time national secretary who shared a small room at Denison House, Vauxhall Bridge Road with the Metropolitan Gardeners Association. 1960 saw the first General Meeting of NAFAS, as it had become known, and a National Council was set up and a constitution adopted. From then on it was case of organisation and development as lists of judges, teachers, demonstrators and lecturers were set up and the idea of a national journal was explored. The Flower Arranger magazine was published in March 1961 as an A5 publication and is still going strong fifty years later. Over the next five decades NAFAS developed and became known throughout the world as a flower arranging organisation, of men and women, and membership peaked at 100,000. Activities Activities for members are organised at level, area and national level. At local level each flower club arranges an annual programme which includes flower arranging demonstrations by trained and qualified NAFAS demonstrators, there may also be hands-on