The Bombing War: Europe 1939-1945

The first fruit of the new order was to institute shelter committees and a system of shelter wardens, distinct from the ARP organization, whose responsibility was to keep public order, note infractions and organize shelter activities. The Ministry of Health recommended people who could be firm and polite without bullying or domineering and encouraged the choice of one of the ‘House Mothers’, women who had already established a reputation in the larger shelters for sorting out the frictions and anxieties generated in their small, claustrophobic communities.¹¹³ In January 1941 the Ministry appointed a welfare director to organize programmes of welfare for the shelter population and in May each local authority was encouraged to appoint a welfare officer to supervise the new activities. These included educational programmes, entertainments, games and excursions. The shelter population was regarded as ‘almost terrifyingly receptive’ after weeks of boredom and darkness. Nevertheless, dull talks were arranged on practical subjects such as furniture covering and how to keep fit, and included a suggested lecture on ‘National Savings – the danger of carrying about or hiding large sums of money.’ For children aged 5–14 there were separate talks for girls and boys which reflected the prevailing gender values: for boys there were ‘careers’, ‘life in the armed forces’, ‘a farmer’s work’, ‘aeroplane construction’; for girls, ‘dressmaking’, ‘cookery and housekeeping’, ‘nursing as a career’, ‘elementary first aid’. A central film library was set up for shelter committees to choose a programme of information films; the list included The Manufacture of Gas (the first and most unfortunate title), The Life Cycle of the Tadpole and Kill that Rat, for which a better case could be made. Shelters established choirs, which competed with other shelters, while some shelter committees organized excursions during the day to concerts, theatres and to London Zoo.¹¹⁴ The class bias of much of the effort to improve shelter life was unavoidable, given the social background of senior officials dealing with a predominantly working-class constituency. Among the evening classes recommended in February 1941 for the cockney borough of Hackney was ‘elocution’; for the more cosmopolitan Soho, ‘English for Foreigners’.¹¹⁵

One of the principal concerns since September 1940 had been the threat of epidemic disease created by insanitary conditions and the close proximity of large numbers of people. Under the Ministry of Health the programme of establishing first-aid centres was accelerated. By January 1941 there were posts in most Underground stations and major shelters with more than 500 people. Face masks were distributed from February, though seem not to have been used. Education was seen as an important element of the programme and an information film titled Atishoo! was distributed to cinemas the same month to encourage the use of handkerchiefs. The close links between the medical personnel and shelter wardens created what one local authority called ‘a miniature social service’. The spread of satisfactory conditions was slow (there were complaints in Norwich in March that people still fouled the streets because there were no shelter toilets), but by the early summer issues of hygiene and health were under control. The equipment detailed for medical posts was extensive, turning them into small well-equipped clinics just at the point when large-scale bombing tailed off.¹¹⁶ At the same time the problem of Rest Centres and feeding was tackled. Most local authorities expanded the capacity of Rest Centres and provided improved meals. In Newcastle the number of places expanded from 2,400 in August 1940 to 12,200 a year later, with 3,300 volunteer workers to man the centres. There were 22 emergency feeding centres which provided a narrow but wholesome menu of traditional English food. The government undertook to supply extensive stocks of foodstuffs for emergency purposes and by autumn 1941 had allocated ‘ “blitz” food stocks’ capable of feeding 10 million people for three days and an Emergency Meals Service for feeding at least 10 per cent of the population of the most vulnerable 147 cities.¹¹⁷ The Rest Centres also became places where the WVS and other volunteers supplied information to the homeless or bomb victims on where to go to find official assistance. By the end of the Blitz there were 78 information centres functioning, while the Citizens Advice Bureaux, set up before the war, expanded the number of offices from around 200 to more than 1,000 by 1942.¹¹⁸