Baillieston ARP (Air Raid Precautions) wardens on parade during the Second World War. They appear relatively well-equipped, with two cars and an ambulance.
The ARP Warden Service was formed in March 1937. Wardens were trained in rescue work, organisation, elementary first aid and bomb protection as well as in ARP procedures. The wardens would provide immediate help at a bomb site until the rescue services arrived. They had to report the particulars of air raid damage, assist the inhabitants in the immediate aftermath, warn of unexploded bombs and mines and seal off devastated areas.
ARP staff often found themselves in the firing line. On the night of 13-14 March 1941 the first aid post, fire station and ARP station which had been set up in Bankhead School, Knightswood, was hit by a German landmine dropped by parachute onto the school’s playground. Thirty-nine people were killed in the explosion.
Reference: Mitchell Library, Glasgow Collection, BA vol.3, p.17a
Reproduced with the permission of Glasgow City Council, Libraries Information and Learning
Keywords:
air raid precautions, air raids, ambulances, ARP wardens, Bankhead School, blitz, bombing, bombs, civil defence, landmines, motor cars, Second World War
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