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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 “CD” initialled insignias, and Air Raid Precaution (ARP) Wardens, recognisable by their black coats and steel helmets marked with a big “W” - 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).