The Society was formed as the Fylde branch of the British Empire Naturalists Association (BENA) in May 1946. In May 1948 we became the Fylde Naturalists’ Society. In the early years membership was low, money was scarce, Britain was still in a war setting but they were a hardy bunch and out of these bare beginnings a strong society grew.

The Society came of age when Arthur Watson took over as Chairman in 1963. Arthur was one of the counties leading entomologists, a wonderful fellow. He was the first warden of LSANR (Lytham St. Annes Nature Reserve), willing to share his knowledge with anyone who showed an interest. Arthur remained Chairman until his sudden death in 1980.

He was succeeded by Norman Woods, a noted naturalist, who stated that he would do the job for a couple of years, but stayed until 1991.

The role was then taken up by Kitty Livesley, a trained biologist, who officiated until 2002.

When she stepped down Geoff Manger took on the roles of Chairman until 2014, and Webmaster until 2019.

We currently manage without a Chairman and our webmaster is a Committee Member, Simon Graham.

Please send comments or suggestions to the webmaster