Those who saw the back page of the Journal this week will have read the obituary of John House. Along with a great number of Warminster folk I attended his funeral at Christchurch yesterday (Saturday). He was a lifelong acquaintance of mine. He and my father were born in Boreham, both the youngest of 10 children, just one day apart in 1915 (Mar31, Apr1).
John's obituary lists the many ways he served the town and one of these was his service in the National Fire Service during the war (and John became a retained fireman when the fire services returned to county status)after the war. As I have a rare photograph of him in uniform I thought I would like to pay tribute to him by posting it in this forum. It was taken in 1942, outside Warminster Town Hall

Bigger image here NFS Men
John is the person immediately behind the hat of the RAF Flying Officer taking the salute. John's Brother Harry House is in the middle of the second row and Dick Webber is on his left. The firemen are led by George Butcher. I think the salute is being taken by Algy Dart, CO of the ATC and veteran of the Royal Flying Corps. I also think the lady on the pavement behind him could be Nurse Blandford. If anyone can fill in other names I would be pleased to hear.
Not many people know that there was also a women's section! This photo was taken on the same day

Bigger version here: NFS Women
This group is led by Peggy White. In the middle of the front row is my mother, Edna Warren and on the far side of the third row is her sister, Alberta Brett. I'm afraid I don't know anybody else in this picture.
Before the war there were some 1,600 independent fire brigades, all managed locally. After the big air raids of 1941 these were organised into a single structure so that all assets could be applied wherever appropriate. The men here fought fires in Bath and Bristol. To organise the deployment and recovery of men and machines an integrated Command and Control System was set up. The women ran this by working one night (all night) in 6, in addition to their day jobs. You can still see the window to the office where they worked if you stand opposite to the old fire station in the Close. It is set back on the right over the staff door.
These photographs are a testament to the service provided to the town by its own sons and daughters. I hope you like them.

I take my hat off to them and you Chris I will ask Jack tommorow night if he can name any of them and im sure he would love to see this wonderful snapshot of a proud town.

The AFS was the forerunner to todays Fire Service and their methods and history are deeply integrated into every firefighters professionall life , for instance all front line fire appliances carry a set of chimney rods , bucket and chimney rose spray & hose ( wartime design & issue ) and much more ...if it works why replace it !!

Keith
Thanks for the compliment.
Perhaps I should clarify why this was titled NFS and not AFS.
The Auxiliary Fire Service was formed from volunteers at the outbreak of war, to assist the regular local fire brigades.
The name was changed to The National Fire Service in August 1941(these pics are from 1942) when the regional regular Fire Brigades and the AFS were merged into a single country-wide organisation. By March 1943 there were 32,200 women serving with the National Fire Service. I have recently found my mothers hat-badge and a button both inscribed with NFS. If you look carefully at the bigger pictures you can see the very large circular NFS badges on the left breast (for both men and women). For the part time fire fighters, men were on duty every fourth night and women every sixth night.
After the war the Fire Brigades were split and once again were organised on a county basis.
I hope this adds a little clarity. I must admit I always thought my Mum was in the AFS until I found the badges and did some research. It was through being part of the NFS that the Warminster firemen found themselves as far away as Exeter, so Harry House's son told me yesterday

you are of course correct Chris .