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A number of the armbands issued by Warwickshire's local authorities have been listed on this blog previously, but I have not seen this dark blue "ARP ROAD REPAIR SERVICE" before. It is listed amongst a number of Civil Defence badges including a red chevron. Of all the badges issued during the war some of the hardest to find and to be quite certain about are the early red chevrons issued to rescue and decontamination squad leaders. The below armband, badges and insignia are currently on eBay and generating quite a bit of interest.  Warwickshire ARP Road Repair Service Armband  Various Civil Defence insignia
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Armbands (or armlets) are avidly collected and rarer examples often reach high amounts. This Rest Centre Officer armband recently fetched just over £160 on eBay. Rest centres were utilised post war as well, such as after major disasters and during poor weather conditions, so I am unsure whether this is categorically a second world war armband.  Rest Centre Officer Armband Lovely group portrait of ARP Wardens (early war) available on eBay. The early single diamond helmet marking for a Head Warden in evidence plus Civil Defence armbands and the obligatory silver ARP badge. The lady appears to have the oval red on black ARP badge more commonly seen on bluette overalls. Doing some research on the writing on the back of the photo I saw the name Major Macleod Yearsley FRCS (Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons). Also a road named "Bulstrode Way". The road is in Gerrards Cross, Bucks. There is some info online about a Percival Macleod Yearsley who died in Gerrards Cross in 1951. The PMY are annotated at the bottom for the man with the Head Warden helmet.  Bulstrode Way, Gerrards Cross ARP Wardens This photograph shows a demonstration by Fire Guards in Cliffords Row, Pimlico, London. Of interest is the chap on the right who appears to have a FIRE GUARD patch worn above a SFP armband. With the introduction of the Fire Guard Organisation in August of 1941, the volunteer Street Fire Parties (SFP) were then run via Fire Guard Depots. New Fire Guard armbands and also Fire Guard patches were issued. The patches were to be sewn over the SFP armbands (occasionally the patch was sewn on the reverse of the SFP so both could be seen). The chap here appears to have used safety pins to wear the patch as well as the SFP armband. The photo is dated Jan 24 (I would say 1942) and it was during the period after the introduction of the Fire Guard Organisation and it was probably the case that Fire Guard patches and armbands were slowly being delivered and issued by local authorities.
Doing the rounds again are these fake SCOUT ARP armbands. Sold on eBay by a notorious shyster in the Midlands, he's being flogging these pieces of crap onto unsuspecting collectors for a while. This utter tosser uses a number of aliases on eBay to sell his forgeries. He was also responsible, at one time, for a large number of fake enamel ARP badges but it appears he's not listing those currently (hopefully because this site lists all the known forgeries...). The badges do, however, still creep onto auction sites as "original". eBay itself it partly to blame, also. Whilst they have put money and effort into validating certain watch brands and (of all things) collectible trainers (yes 'sneakers'), they never cover the veritable plethora of faked (and very expansive) militaria on its site.  Fake WW2 Scout ARP Armband |
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