The first of these (published 1955 on general aspects of ageing) was chaired by Prof Tunbridge and included contributions (either as speakers or discussants) from many prominent members of the BSRA including Medawar, Comfort, Olbers, and Krohn. Prominent international scientists with connections to the BSRA and the IAGB also attended (e.g. Cowdry, Vezar and Brull)as did American researchers connected to the GSA such as Nathan Shock and McCay. Ciba meetings had a distinct style in which "leading research workers from different countries and different disciplines are invited to attend the colloquia. The size of the group is, however, very strictly limited in order to obtain a free conversational manner of discussion". Close linkage with Ciba was thus a sensible decision for the executive committee because it both suited the style of meeting which the small membership of the BSRA preferred and provided a route for authoritative dissemination since "the smallness of the groups [at the meeting] means the exclusion of many workers active and interested in the subjects discussed and therefore the proceedings of these conferences are published and made available throughout the world". However, the disadvantage of this approach was that it was unsuited to the regular dissemination of peer-reviewed research that is so necessary today. Although the colloquia series proper seem to have been discontinued after five years from 1955 to 1970 the executive committee of the society met at the Ciba Foundation (41 Portland Place, London). Since the foundation headquarters also provided a library and guest facilities for visiting scientists this was to prove a remarkably durable and successful arrangement. Scientific meetings were regularly organised there and an annual Ciba lecture on ageing delivered at various locations throughout the UK until 1970 (the last probably by Leonard Hayflick). The society also undertook joint meetings with other organisations which had shared goals (e.g. with the Society for Experimental Biology in 1967) and its activities were always conducted with a view to harmonising them with the meetings of the IAG (which took place in Denmark, the USA, the USSR, Israel and Japan over this period) . The disengagement of Ciba from support for ageing research in the early 1970s led to a number of distinct meeting venues being used by the executive committee (including the Royal College of Pathologists, St Pancras Hospital and the Leeds General infirmary). A particularly important point during this period was Age Action Year. This was a concerted campaign to raise awareness of both the problems faced by older people and the potential of research into the mechanisms of ageing to alleviate them.