In the first year the society grew to 200 members who were exhorted not to make unsuitable improvements to their homes. However, Greeves was aware that the only real protection for the whole estate lay in getting the buildings statutorily listed. The breakthrough came in 1967 with the staging of a local exhibition "Artists and Architecture of Bedford Park 1875–1900" which was visited by Arthur Grogan, a government inspector from the Ministry of Housing and Local Government. Through Grogan, 356 of Bedford Park's houses were Grade II listed and the London Borough of Ealing (in 1969) and the London Borough of Hounslow (in 1970) declared conservation areas for their half of the suburb. Tom Greeves, who as secretary was "de facto" leader of the society for many years, died in 1997.