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A March 1941 press photo of Clementine Churchill (the Prime Minister's wife) and the Home Secretary and Minister of Home Security Herbert Morrison with the owners of a new Morrison Shelter. The Morrison Shelter was made of a steel frame with a flat top (often used as a table), a sprung base and removable mesh sides. It was to be assembled by the householder and measured 6ft 6in by 4ft by 2ft 6in high. Two adults and a small child or two young children could sleep inside. It was to be erected on the ground floor of a house and would protect those inside from falling masonry etc. Over one million were in use by 1945.  1941 Press Photo of a Morrison Shelter
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The below Borough of Beckenham ARP Medical Services armband sold recently on eBay for £157 (including shipping). The rear manufacturer stamp of "R. CROOK & CO. KEW BRIDGE." is of interest. The same style of manufacture and maker mark has been seen on Shelter Marshal armbands that a few collectors had believed to be reproductions. Following further research, I believe the Shelter Marshal examples to be original wartime examples and I have updated the blogs accordingly. An online search came up with several other R. Crook-made armbands. A lot are related to 1930s motor racing but one was for an event in 1956. The armbands all share the same manufacturing style and maker's mark. I searched on Grace's Guide but there's no mention of a firm named "R. Crook" in the Kew Bridge area currently.  Borough of Beckenham ARP Medical Services Armband  Borough of Beckenham ARP Medical Services Armband maker stamp At 11 am on 3 September 1939, Neville Chamberlain announced in a radio broadcast that the country was at war with Germany. It is alleged that Frank Buckley, a warden on duty at a Bristol fire station (a converted garage) sounded the first mainland air raid warning of the second world war at 11.15 am. Shortly after receiving the false red warning of raiders approaching, the all-clear white warning (raiders passed) came through. Sirens were also set off in London that afternoon.  A post-war photo of Frank Buckley whilst in the Civil Defence Corps I am indebted to Roger Shore, archivist of the Moordown Local History Society for the image below. Moordown is a suburb to the north of Bournemouth (then in Hampshire, now Dorset). The photo is undated but with the plethora of Zuckerman helmets on display it is probably mid-1941 or later. There is a smattering of Warden 'W' helmets and an F.A.P. member at the front. Off to the right is a member of the fire service. Given the date, it's somewhat peculiar the wardens are not in bluette (the serge battledress and trousers came in from mid-1941 but are also not in evidence). The photo is of the members of a local Street/Supplementary Fire Party (SFP) group. I'm not quite sure of the implement on the far right but I assume some sort of apparatus to deal with incendiary devices.  Moordown Civil Defence Group © Moordown Local History Society The below ARP Malta badge was recently sent to me and the owner was pretty sure it was a fake. My gut reaction was to agree with them going by the look of the front casting and the rear. The spate of reproduction/fake ARP badges we saw a few years ago use a specific type of modern pin and catch but the one here does use a more original-looking pin (the catch is missing). I contacted a re-enactor in Malta with an interest in the island's wartime Civil Defence. She told me that silver-hallmarked badges were available, some island-made examples were also made, possibly in the dockyards. These were simple sand cast examples. An original badge would be pressed into the sand and cast with available metals. The rear would be quite plain and smoothed off. Whether this would also create the striations seen below is currently unknown. An original silver Maltese ARP badge was previously posted on this blog.  ARP Malta Badge  Original Malta ARP badge made on the island |
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