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One of the very best overviews of Air Raid Precautions and how the various organisations within Civil Defence were run can be found in Samuel Evelyn Thomas's Practical Guide for the Householder & Air-Raid Warden (first printed in 1939 by James Askew & Son). The 90-page booklet is quite detailed with several illustrations (it also re-used colour copies of the ARP cigarette cards). It is a great reference for how the Wardens' Service was set up and run. It also gives a great run-through of how the various first aid groups were set up and run in towns and rural areas. The copy below is an original Fifth Edition (400th thousand) and goes to show how many were printed. Currently, I've seen editions with the eighth edition on the cover. Evelyn Thomas was a Group Warden from St. Albans and a prolific writer who wrote articles that appeared in many of the ARP / Civil Defence magazines of the day. He also published a guide to the Civil Defence Act of 1939, a rare booklet called the "Handy War-Time Guide", "Tactical Training in A.R.P.", as well as "Incident Cards", a training resource for incident officers. Well worth finding a copy and reproductions printed by the IWM are also available but contain only 32 pages.  Practical Guide for the Householder & Air-Raid Warden by S. Evelyn Thomas
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Published between January 1940 and late 1945, the ARP & AFS Review was a monthly magazine for members of the ARP, Civil Defence, Fire Guard and fire services. The magazine covered various topics; the release of Ministry of Home Security booklets, civil defence discussions in parliament, to issues of the organisation of the civil defence services. The magazine's editor was Peter Hunot, whose archive resides at the Bishopsgate Institute in London  Issue 1 of the ARP & AFS Review, January 1940 The magazine also incorporated a section called "Wardens News" the "Official Organ of the National Association of Air Raid Wardens". This updated wardens of various civil defence-related bulletins, circulars and booklets that had been issued by the Ministry of Home Security (as well as corrections to those previously published). In April 1941 the magazine added the sub-heading "The Civil Defence Journal" and from November 1941 the title of the magazine became "ARP & NFS Review" following the changes made to the fire services in August of the same year.  ARP & NFS Review, November 1941 The magazine continued to be printed but the size was reduced slightly later in the war due to paper rationing. Though the threat from Luftwaffe bombing raids began to recede in the middle of the war, the magazine covered the introduction and effects of the V-weapons from June 1944.  ARP & NFS Review, January 1943 By the end of hostilities in Europe in May 1945, the magazine was titled "ARP & NFS Review - Industrial and Civic Welfare". The magazine continued into late 1945 and was retitled as "Welfare - The Journal of Industrial and Social Progress" but subscriptions dwindled and the publication ceased printing. For historians, collectors and those interested in wartime civil defence, the magazines provide a valuable trove of information. The Imperial War Museum in London holds bound copies of every issue.  ARP & NFS Review - Industrial and Civic Welfare - Victory issue Most large firms were required to build air raid shelters for their workforce. In the event of a raid, it would be important that each person knew exactly where to go. If several shelters were built it would be necessary to allocate people to each and in these cases shelter cards, like the one shown below, would be issued.
A combined Authority Card and Record of Training for a Deputy Senior Warden in the City of Liverpool's Civil Defence Wardens' Service (a senior warden would cover a sector of a few streets). I've seen quite a number of these authority cards (also called appointment or warrant cards) but rarely do they include a record of the training the individual warden had received. Oddly, it's not that unusual to find these cards unsigned.  City of Liverpool CD Wardens' Service Authority Card  City of Liverpool CD Wardens' Service Training Record From early 1940 ARP and Civil Defence vehicles could use the left headlamp as an identification marker (the right lamp had a blackout filter added and the left was initially to be entirely obscured). Lettered masks could be fitted over the headlamp to allow the Civil Defence Services and Police to identify vehicles during the blackout and at air raid incidents. The lettering was in white except for the FIRE which was in amber. The below image is from Trico that manufactured the illuminated letters. The first set of lettered signs included: ARP - Directing Staff W - Air Raid Wardens FAP - First Aid Parties & Mobile First Aid Units A - Ambulance (stretcher cases) A CAR - Ambulance (sitting cases) R - Rescue Parties DC - Decontamination Squads RP/R - Repair Party - Roads RP/W - Repair Party - Water RP/G - Repair Party - Gas RP/E - Repair Party - Electricity M - Messengers SP - Stretcher Parties in the London CD Region FIRE - Fire Service P - Police Additional letters were added such as BTS for the Blood Transfusion Service, GPO for the General Post Office fixing telephone lines and GIS and GCU for Gas Identification Services and Gas Cleansing Units, respectively.  WW2 ARP Illuminated Headlamp Lettered Signs  Illuminated letter A on this Liverpool-based ambulance |
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