Image © Trinity Mirror. Image created courtesy of THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD.

Page seven of the Western Mail & South Wales News, Thursday 5 October 1939, which includes an article explaining that, to cut costs, paid employment in the ARP was to be replaced by unpaid volunteers. There was concern that "many of the paid personnel, principally women, are already in full-time employment elsewhere or in circumstances which make payment unnecessary".

"After World War One, military experts predicted that in any future war there would be large-scale bombing of the British civilian population, resulting in huge casualties. In April 1937, an Air Raid Wardens' Service was created. By the middle of 1938 about 200,000 people were involved, with another half a million enrolling during the Munich Crisis of September 1938. By the outbreak of war there were more than 1.5 million in the ARP (Air Raid Precautions), or Civil Defence as it was later re-named."

Source: www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/timeline/factfiles/nonflash/a665142…, accessed 19/2/17.