History of The Arts Society – Tring Park

The Arts Society can trace its story back to 1965 and the formation of the Chiltern Antiques Group, founded by Patricia Fay and a pioneering group of young women eager to be educated about the arts. Their vision was to bring specialist lecturers to meetings and to arrange visits to exhibitions, historic houses and gardens.  It was immediately successful and just a few years later, in 1968, eleven such societies came together to form the National Association of Decorative & Fine Arts Societies (NADFAS).

In the 1970s NADFAS became a registered charity and underwent a period of rapid expansion with the creation of many new societies across the UK and abroad.  Aided by a small grant from Dacorum Borough Council, the fledgling Tring Park Society was formed in 1994 and held its first open meeting in November of that year when our president, John Bly, gave a talk on our local heritage. The inaugural meeting was held on 11 January 1995. Word soon spread about the society and within a short period we had over 200 members, a number that has remained constant ever since.  

On 17 May 2017, following a major rebranding exercise, The Arts Society replaced NADFAS as our operating name. After 50 years, the organisation needed to evolve to keep up with changing times in order to reach out to more people in more places. The Arts Society has become a leading arts education charity with a global network of local societies like Tring Park. It is an organisation for everyone who appreciates the arts in all their various forms.

Today The Arts Society continues to grow and adapt to our changing times. During the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021 member societies, including Tring Park, successfully managed to temporarily move their monthly lectures online. Our membership dipped slightly following the pandemic but has since recovered to in excess of 200. We do still welcome new members.