1.1. A longer title to this paper might be ‘Reflections of a Consulting Actuary on his professional relationship with Friendly Societies’. The term ‘Friendly Society’ is defined by law, but from the actuary's point of view it can be divided into a range of organizations, summarized as follows:

(a) Large Collecting Societies with assets exceeding £1 million. Many of these Societies operate on a national basis.

(b) Medium to small Collecting Societies. Most of these Societies serve a fairly localized area, and some are very small, being linked to churches to provide for burial expenses.

(c) The large Friendly Societies known as Affiliated Orders which have a large number of branches.

(d) The smaller Affiliated Orders with branches.

(e) Large Friendly Societies with assets exceeding £1 million.

(f)The smaller Friendly Societies with assets of less than £1 million including many with assets of less than £500,000.