The badge on the left is an original wartime R&M ARP Fire Watcher badge issued by the ball-bearing making firm of Ransome and Marles. The ampersand between the R and M is very detailed. The rear featured the half-moon lapel buttonhole fitting found on many wartime enamel badges. It's a scarce badge and appears in Jon Mills' wonderful book "Doing Their Bit - Home Front Lapel Badges, 1939-1945".
The badge on the right is a fake repro that used the design but added 'Rolls Royce' (a huge clanger as the actual company is called 'Rolls-Royce', always with a hyphen) and a weird 'R & R' in the scroll. So, along with the incorrect company name, with have modern fonts and a crappy pin and clasp rear. Copies of the badge were previously listed on eBay by a well-known shyster as an original badge and sold. These days they are hawked on the tat bazaar as "ideal for ww2 re-enactment reissue badges ,film or TV prop" (sic). It's a complete piece of trash.
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Several towns operated Civil Defence Cadet Corps, with Liverpool, Nottingham, and Birmingham being the best-known examples. The cadets were trained in ARP measures and those over 16 could volunteer with the local Civil Defence Services. Apart from Liverpool, limited information is available about these cadet corps. If you have any more details or photos, please send them via the Contact page.
The Dudley cadets below, sporting the rather fetching headwear, are not wearing standard CD uniforms. They appear to be general use overalls and coats to which the ARP breast badge has been attached. The photo has been censored. The badge below features "FIRE BRIGADE A.R.P." and crops up now and again on eBay (as per this example) and at fairs, etc. I've not yet come across any background details regarding the badge, so if you know more information about when it was issued and by whom, please drop me a line.
The green enamel CD Rescue Instructor's badge is probably as rare as the C.A.G.S. Instructors badge (Civilian Anti-Gas School). It is shown with several armbands within the Postal Museum Archives, but little information is available about where, when and how it was issued. It is the same shape as other instructor badges but with green enamel.
If you have enjoyed reading the blog, please support the site with a small donation. Thank you. Not seen anything like this cap badge before. I assume it could be for a First Aid Post or a First Aid Party Leader to wear. Or, the FAP letters are for something entirely else.
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