The National Association of Flower Arrangement Societies (NAFAS) is a society of flower arranging clubs and societies in the United Kingdom. They banded together as the National Association of Flower Arrangement Societies in 1959. In 1984 NAFAS was granted charitable status in recognition of its education activities. It currently has around 70,000 members. History Although the National Association of Flower Arrangement Societies was formed in 1959 it had its origins in the years after the Second World War when various ladies travelled to America and saw how the garden club movement welcomed flower arranging as something to be linked with plant growing. Julia Clements visited America and returned becoming active in lectures and demonstrations on flower arranging to Women's Institutes and other clubs. She published her first book Fun with Flowers in 1950. In Dorset Mary Pope, having returned from Canada where she spent some of the war years, set up a panel in 1948 to fill the need for more knowledgeable judges of flower arranging for the increasing number of classes in horticultural shows. She went on to form a club in Dorchester in 1949 to encourage entries in the flower arranging sections of the horticultural societies and it soon had five hundred members. The Flower Academy was an event staged at the Royal Horticultural Society’s New Hall in London when the four existing flower arranging clubs in the country joined to stage a floral arrangements exhibition. The Colchester Flower Club, the Dorset Floral Decoration Club, the Leicester and County Flower Lovers Guild and the London Floral Decoration Society arranged 350 floral exhibits which attracted huge crowds and became ‘news’. Visitors returned home and clubs were formed throughout the country. Guidance from the Royal Horticultural Society was sought in 1954 when Mary Pope approached them for advice and help as there was a need to co-ordinate the many flower clubs being formed. On 7 December 1954 the President of the RHS, David Bowes-Lyon convened a meeting attended by representatives from 45 clubs from England, Scotland and Wales. This led to the formation within the RHS of the Floral Decoration Society in 1955, delegates from 125 clubs attended the meeting and agreed to divide Great Britain into five large regions. At the Chelsea Flower Show in 1956 the RHS provided a large marquee for the five regional organisations to show their artistry, this was visited by both Queen Elizabeth and