Whilst there are numerous enamel badges in existence, there were also many cheaper celluloid button pin badges produced earlier in the war. Many were given to personnel involved in manning large ARP shelters - such as Shelter Marshals and Key Men. Others appear to have been given to people to allow access to the shelter - they are numbered. There were badges for Fire Wardens and ARP Wardens.
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Photos showing wardens that have donned gas masks and helmets are always a treat to find. This great photo shows wardens from a Cardiff ARP post posing for the camera.
For the control of Civil Defence services England, Scotland and Wales were split into various areas. Region 5 covered the 28 Metropolitan Boroughs (forming the London County Council) plus the City of London and the County Boroughs of Croydon, East and West Ham and a number of small urban rural districts in Essex, Kent, Middlesex and Kent.
Various local authorities were then combined into Groups - numbered 1 to 9 across the region. Groups 1 and 2 were later combined into just Group 1 in 1943. Within a single group each authority would have a control room and one of the authorities would also have a group control. Make Do And Mend... When badges were not available there were options to create your own from existing stock. In the case below a standard ARP breast badge has been refashioned into just an 'R' for a rescue squad member. These are know to have been sewn onto berets.
Following an air raid incident a canteen would quickly arrive to offer tea and a bite to eat to those affected by the bombing and also to the Civil Defence services in attendance. Often these canteens were "manned" by members of the Women's Voluntary Services (WVS) as in the photo below. Also of interest in the child wearing a Plasfort helmet (on the left of the trio of youngsters) and a Messenger standing inline for a cuppa..
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