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A peculiar request has arrived which I am hoping visitors to this blog may be able to answer. There is a painting by Stanley Lewis entitled "The Home Front" that he painted early in the war. Lewis was called up for service before he could finish the painting. It is currently on display at Newport Museum and Art Gallery. The painting features all the various services active in Newport's Civil Defence - ARP Wardens, First Aid Party, ARP Nurses, AFS (Auxiliary Fire Service) and Firewatchers plus emblems of the ARP, Red Cross, AFS, St. John Ambulance and the National ARP Animals (NARPAC). The WVS is represented by the "ARP Women's Voluntary Service" badge which was replaced by the common "W.V.S. Civil Defence" badge. There is one emblem though that is currently unidentified. It is found towards the top right and has ARP above a circle with 'N', 'M','V' and a central 'C'. I'm stumped by this. If you have the answer, please drop me a line. Update: a lapel badge featuring the exact design can be found in the Industril ARP section of the "Doing Their Bit" book. Alas, identification has yet to be found. Given that the badge features the winged cherub at the top, and this is a feature as an emblem of the city of Newport, it is almost certainly a local business or factory, and one big enough to warrant having their own ARP badge commissioned.  Stanley Lewis's ‘The Home Front’  Unknown Civil Defence emblem
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A visitor to the site is seeking more information about the stone figurines made from the stone taken from the Houses of Parliament after it was bombed during WW2. If you have any information about the figurines, even if you know of a different statue from the ones shown below, please drop me a line. A previous blog post detailed examples of bookends and jars also make from the stone to raise funds.
Sir Duncan Oppenheim (1904–2003) was for many years employed by British American Tobacco and rose to become the company's chairman. During the war he was a Civil Defence warden in London and painted a number of pictures relating to this. The one below is entitled "Boredom: Air Raid Wardens on Duty". Many of his pictures are held in the IWM archives. It's well worth reading his obituary that appeared in the Independent.  Boredom: Air Raid Wardens on Duty by Duncan Oppenheim (1904–2003) |
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