[1] Every local council was responsible for organising ARP wardens, messengers, ambulance drivers, rescue parties, and liaison with police and fire brigades.

Heavy curtains and shutters were required on all private residences, commercial premises, and factories to prevent light escaping and so making them a possible marker for enemy bombers to locate their targets.

From 1941 the ARP officially changed its title to Civil Defence Service to reflect the wider range of roles it then encompassed.

In 1924, the Committee of Imperial Defence set up a subcommittee to look at what measure could be taken to protect the civil population from aerial attack.

With the rise of Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany's remilitarisation during the 1930s, a further Home Office committee, the Air Raid Precautions (ARP) Department, was created in March 1935.

This department replaced the earlier subcommittees and took overall control of the British response to passive air defence.

[4] In April 1937, the Air Raid Wardens' Service was created which aimed to seek some 800,000 volunteers (some 200,000 people had joined by mid-1938, and following the Munich Crisis of September 1938 another 500,000 had enrolled).

[5] Wardens gave ARP advice to the public and were responsible for reporting bombs and other incidents, and were joined by the Women's Voluntary Service in May 1938.

Central headquarters that received information from wardens and messengers and managed the delivery of the relevant services needed to deal with each incident.

Bombing would sometimes cut telephone lines and messengers performed an important role in giving the ARP services a fuller picture of events.

Following the destruction caused by the bombing of the City of London in late December 1940, the Fire Watcher scheme was introduced in January 1941.

ARP wardens were initially set up in temporary posts (in homes, shops and offices) and later in purpose-built facilities, mainly at the junctions of roads.

When the wardens came across the site of a bombing they would telephone for the emergency services, render first aid to victims with minor injuries and deal with small fires (placing sand on incendiary devices).

From the formation of the ARP until 1939, the badges were produced by the Royal Mint[7] and made of solid sterling silver, with a crescent-shaped button hole attachment for men and a pin style brooch for women.

These helmets, which had less resistance to ballistic impact, would have small holes drilled in the rim to show they were not for front line use.

By 1944, with the decreasing threat from enemy bombing, the total of full-time ARP staff had dropped to approximately 67,000 (10,000 of whom were women).

The first ARP warden to receive the George Cross was Thomas Alderson, who won his award for actions saving civilian life in Bridlington in 1940.