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Information is sought about the cream/white Salvage Steward badge. The issue of other colours; the common red, less common blue and rare green are known but this other colour doesn't seem to have been referenced anywhere. If you happen to know, please drop me a message. UPDATE: I had a response saying the cream badge is possibly a very faded red badge. There are a few examples online that show the red badge losing its colour.  Unknown cream / white Salvage Steward badge
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Below are press photos relating to the release of the 'ARP Women's Voluntary Services' badge. This badge had a very short shelf life being available for barely three months from November 1938. It cost 6d to purchase following training. Issued by the newly formed Women's Voluntary Services (WVS) organisation is was issued to women who had volunteered to join the ARP services as wardens, ambulance drivers or as aides in hospitals. In February 1939, the WVS changed into the Women's Voluntary Services for Civil Defence and a new badge featuring 'W.V.S. Civil Defence' was issued. For a badge with such a short period of issue, it can still be easily found for purchase.
 Press release about the badge for the Women's Voluntary Services for A.R.P. Often described as 'Headquarters Civil Defence' this is in fact a wartime Metropolitan Police collar badge - for 'Headquarters Central Division'. It crops up on eBay from time-to-time and is nearly always incorrectly identified.  Headquarters Civil Defence? Nope, it's a Met police badge Headquarters Central Division A recent addition to my collection is this small (1.5" square) Exeter Housewives Service Civil Defence badge. Established in 1938 by the Women’s Voluntary Service (WVS), the Housewives Service organised housewives (who could not work fulltime due to family commitments) to assist their local Civil Defence services (formerly Air Raid Precautions (ARP)). In 1939 the service was formally established within the WVS Civil Defence organisation and expanded rapidly across the country. Volunteers were trained in air raid precautions measures, first aid and home nursing and assisted at rest centres and canteens. Members also helped with evacuated children. During the Second World War, Exeter suffered heavily from German bombing and it was the first city to be bombed in the so-called 'Baedeker' raids. These raids targeted cities for their cultural and historical, rather than their strategic or military, value In the first raids on the nights of 23-24 and 24-25 April 1942, 80 people were killed and 55 badly wounded. A further attack on 4 May, saw 90 aircraft drop high explosives, parachute mines and incendiaries. Exeter had been poorly prepared for air raids on this scale and the local fire services were quickly overwhelmed. Fires devastated the city's shopping centre with over 600 shops, pubs and offices destroyed. The Baedeker raids on Exeter left over 230 people dead and almost 600 injured. The Royal Voluntary Service has an online PDF that covers the Housewives' Service in detail.  Exeter Housewives Service Civil Defence Badge A pair of badges marked "CIVIL DEFENCE AMBULANCE SERVICE" recently sold on the tat bazaar for just over £50. I've not come across these before and I'm currently unsure of the date of issue. Interesting that a white cross was used instead of the more common red cross for first aid. If you happen to more about these badges, please drop me a line.
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