This card covers the courses and training that Fire Guards underwent. Inside the card are details of various courses including dealing with incendiary bomb knowledge (listed as IB) and first aid and gas. Photos courtesy of R. Harvey.
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A stand down portrait of ARP Wardens in Addlestone in Surrey show every possible way that a beret can be worn. The army way or over the right ear but this groups show the beret worn over each ear, centrally and also towards the back of the head. The shapes and style of beret also varies quite considerably. The ARP badge also varies from almost above the left ear to almost central on the forehead.
The large areas of London that had been bombed led to a call for more men to assist in its clearance. I initially thought that this may be a post-war poster but a reference in a book appears to date it to the war years.
Prior to the release of the serge battledress and trousers, Manchester's Wardens' Service wore the below uniform. Similar in cut to a policeman's tunic the uniform featured two Manchester Wardens Service insignia badges to the collar as well as similarly named buttons. The below picture shows a warden wearing the uniform somewhere in Manchester probably summer 1940 to summer 1941. The 'H' on the helmet is yet to be determined but may represent an area in Manchester (for example, Hulme). Original tunic photos are courtesy of C. Boddington.
I am indebted to Chris Ransted (author of the excellent Bomb Disposal in World War II) for the image below. The cigarette case belonged to his grandfather, a printer and fire watcher at The Times in London. There are a great number of fake items featuring ARP badges (eBay has a few rogue sellers regularly slapping an ARP badge onto cigarette cases, vesta cases and lighters).
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