Section 2 (Part 1)
Initially reluctant to comply with Government proposed voluntary arrangements, Clydebank Town Council commenced a programme of Air Raid Precautions (ARP) for the Burgh only after the Air Raid Precautions Act was passed in December 1937.
The photo beneath shows a group of senior officers of the ARP taken during the period of the Blitz.
Civilians were issued with gas masks and I.D. cards; houses and shops were "blacked-out" and buildings sandbagged. Many ground floor tenement closes were strutted with steel scaffolding, and baffle walls were erected on pavements and in back courts opposite close entries. Surface shelters made of brick and concrete were built in open spaces and back courts, while people with gardens had Anderson Shelters.
A Control Centre for the Burgh was set up in the basement of the Public Library, and ARP Wardens' Posts, First Aid Posts, and Ambulance Depots were established throughout the town. As well as 462 ARP wardens, 90 messenger boys were recruited from various youth organisations, mainly the Boys' Brigade and Boy Scouts.
