CABA originated from a proposal in the 1980 s by the late Dr Douglas Andrew, a member of Glasgow and Kelvin Valley Associations.
Dr Andrew proposed that there should be co-operation between the Associations in Glasgow and the surrounding area with a view to being able to invite speakers of note which individual Associations could not afford to finance or could not raise a sufficiently large audience to make it worthwhile.
The project got under way while Mr C.Gordon Stewart was president of Glasgow Association.
