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Air Raid Precaution (ARP) Training in Cambridge

An alternative home movie; mother and daughter participate in Air Raid Precaution Training, captured at the family home by amateur filmmaker Trevor Spittle.

Amateur film 1940 2 mins Silent

From the collection of:

Logo for East Anglian Film Archive

Overview

Filmed within the grounds of the filmmaker’s family home in Cambridge, Civil Defence Ambulance Attendants, recognisable by their dark blue battledress with yellow β€œCD” initialled insignias, and Air Raid Precaution (ARP) Wardens, recognisable by their black coats and steel helmets marked with a big β€œW” - all volunteers, receive emergency first aid training, practicing their skills on others wearing everyday dress who play-act the part of injured civilians.

A great example of war effort. Amateur filmmaker Trevor Spittle was a Cambridge University Don, and his family stayed in Cambridge throughout war. His wife organised the ARP Training, being a Civil Defence volunteer, and is featured in uniform throughout the footage. At 0:57 she smiles for her husband, and the camera. The filmmaker’s daughter, a young Heather Spittle, the lightest of the volunteers, plays the part of an injured civilian, carried on a stretcher and lowered out of a first floor window of the family home (7 Herschel Road).