In September 1944, a joint meeting of the Petersfield Arts & Crafts Society and the Petersfield Photographic Society was held at The Studio, No. 1 The Square, Petersfield (Flora Twort's studio). The meeting was chaired by Mr Edward Barnsley and minuted by Miss Mary Ward, respectively Chairman and Honorary Secretary of the Arts & Crafts Society.
Miss Ward suggested that a combined exhibition by the two societies 'might stimulate interest and make Petersfield people proud of the beauty it had in buildings etc so that these would be preserved and cared for'. Dr Samuel Pope of the Photographic Society felt "it would be very appropriate for his Society to attempt to interest Petersfield in post-war housing, first in relation to old buildings of good design liable to be taken over by local industry and secondly that new houses should be considered as regards design and their relationship to each other and to their surroundings".
It was agreed that the exhibition should show examples of old buildings which had been removed in the past; examples of old buildings which should be preserved; good examples of buildings since 1919; examples of bad building design; examples of commercial premises which had been well designed; the value of trees and other features; the control of advertisements. So it was then that in December 1944, the shop window of John Dowler's estate agency was used to display this combined exhibition by the Photographic and Arts & Crafts Societies, drawing public attention to buildings which had been demolished and those of architectural interest. An article entitled Group for the Preservation and Improvement of Petersfield appeared in the Hants And Sussex News and caught the general public's imagination.
Meanwhile a committee had been formed and met monthly at the 'Punch and Judy Tearooms' in the High Street, now the ASK restaurant. Edward Barnsley became the first Chairman, Dr Pope the Vice-Chairman and Mary Ward the Hon. Secretary. It was agreed that the name of the group should be Group for the Preservation and Improvement of Petersfield but this was later changed to The Petersfield Society. Following discussions during autumn 1944 and spring 1945, a constitution, membership, publicity, appeals for funds, lectures, further displays and contacts with the press, schools and other societies were settled on. The first public meeting was held on 21 July 1945: 800 members joined in the first year of the Society's existence.