From where did the BAPS emerge?

This is a personal account of the emergence of the British Association of Paediatric Surgeons (BAPS), one of the oldest of the specialty associations. It was formed in 1953 by like-minded professionals from around the UK, and its first meeting was held in and around the Hospital for Sick Children, London, in the summer of 1954. It included many surgeons from around the world eager to share experience of the challenges of this new surgical discipline. The BAPS had four aims: the advancement of the study, practice, and research in paediatric surgery, the promotion of the teaching of paediatric surgery, both under-graduate and post-graduate, and advice on the training of paediatric surgeons, advice on matters concerning the paediatric surgical services in the British Isles, and fourthly, the promotion of friendship with paediatric surgeons overseas.