Civil Defence Corps Regional Rallies
Across the country, the Civil Defence Corps regularly held Regional Rallies with public exhibitions and competitions in the various skills of each section.
The programme of events for the day.
As you can see in the programme, there were exhibitions by “allied” services.
The Police brought a Mobile Control Van and showed photographs of a Police Mobile Column in training.
The Fire Services provided a Mobile Control Unit & a small portable pump on a “Bikini” raft.
The Central Electricity Generating Board displayed a model power station indicating possible problems that could be caused by nuclear fallout. They also had several teams in the competitions.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food showed Food Flying Squad vehicles and a model of am Emergency Feeding Centre.
The Women’s Voluntary Service put on an exhibition of their peacetime activities and also ran a crèche for visitors on the event.
Manchester Regional Hospital Board had a stand depicting a ward in a wartime emergency hospital.
The Casualties Union demonstrated some of their techniques in casualty faking.
The British Red Cross Society showed their three membership categories: the Voluntary Aid Detachments, nursing members and first aiders.
The St. John Ambulance Brigade displayed their work and also gave demonstrations of the “Kiss of Life” method of artificial respiration (note- this was quite new at the time and a little controversial).
The Royal Observer Corps exhibited the equipment from their post and showed how it would be used to detect nuclear explosions.
The Army stall displayed modern weaponry and the locations where the Lancastrian Brigade had been stationed in recent years.
The Civil Defence Corps' own exhibition consisted of how convert a small room in an ordinary house into a refuge and how to equip it for a family of four for a period.
So there was plenty to see.
With Civil Defence describing itself as being “the Fourth Arm,” the organisers were keen to have representatives from the other three arms. The Royal Navy provided an honour guard of Sea Cadets, the Royal Air Force had a display stand manned by the Royal Observer Corps and the local Territorial Army 127 (Manchester) Brigade provided a massed band to beat the retreat.
In the evening, after all the competitions and prize giving, there was a social event, The Regional Civil Defence Dance.
The organisers stated that the event was attended by thousands of people including hundreds of Civil Defence members and their families.
The Competitions.
The competitions had teams from the various Civil Defence Corps (CDC) divisions in the region plus teams from the Industrial Civil Defence Service (ICDS) who were based at local companies. The competition categories included:
Headquarters Section (Intelligence & Operations).
A five member team consisting of a Staff Officer (Operations), an Operations Clerk, a staff officer (Intelligence), an Intelligence Clark and a Messenger.
The team will be in charge of a static control with written messages from Sector & Warden posts and Reconnaissance teams concerning a nuclear burst. These messages will be contrived to require the performance of a fair range of Control team duties.
23 CDC teams participated in this competition.
Headquarters Section (Reconnaissance)
This test involves the use of Landrovers on public roads near the venue. The Reconnaissance parties will have a local map and be accompanied by an Umpire who gives them information which they must act upon in accordance with procedure. Information on radiation will be given using a Radiac Fallout trainer.
19 CDC parties participated in this competition.
Headquarters Section (Scientific)
The teams will consist of a Scientific Intelligence Officer (SIO) and a trained assistant.
The SIO will provide details to the Controller based on Radiac information provided to them.
18 CDC teams participated in this competition.
Headquarters Section (Signals)
(a) Wireless/Signal Office practice.
Part I- Teams of five using two wireless sets & a simple line network to carry out three tasks drawn from a hat.
Part II- The erection of an ariel mast.
(b) Field cable
Carried out by a standard Field Cable Party of four.
Part I- The test is a combination of vehicle & hand-laying negotiating obstacles and making a simple joint. When done, the line is telephone tested and then recovered.
Part II- A fault location test for two of the party and an individual practical test for the remaining two.
The scores from all four parts provide an aggregate total score for each Signal Section taking part.
24 CDC teams participated in this competition.
Warden Section (including Industry)
Each team to have three members acting as Post Warden, Deputy Post Warden & Warden.
They will have to carry out a number of tasks including plotting hazards on a map, allocating forces to patrol areas, briefing a mobile force commander, using a Radiac Calculator, charging a dosimeter and recording activities in an operations log.
25 CDC teams and 6 ICDS teams participated in this competition.
Rescue Section (including Industry)
Each team consists of a full Rescue Party (leader & seven men).
Part I – Using a “tower”, the test will involve lifting a casualty from a simulated basement, using a stretcher, Tirfor winch and snatch block to a platform and then to the ground using a ladder hinge.
Part II- The Party Leader will deploy two of his team to a metal-cutting task, using flame-cutting equipment, while the remainder tackle a heavy lifting task using the hydraulic rescue kit.
21 CDC teams and 7 ICDS teams participated in this competition.
Ambulance & First Aid Section
Teams of nine: First Aid Party of a leader & six members and also an ambulance driver & attendant.
The First Aid Party will be tested on procedure, first aid and the blanketing of stretchers. The ambulance crew will answer questions on vehicle maintenance, the background of Civil Defence and vehicle handling.
The method of loading & unloading ambulance will be that laid down in Civil Defence Instructors’ Note A.4 and the employment of any other method by teams will involve loss of marks.
23 CDC teams participated in this competition.
Welfare Section
(a) Emergency Feeding
Teams of eight, not more than two may be men.
There will be a practical test in various aspects of Emergency Feeding Standard Training, using improvised equipment and oral questions on Emergency Feeding and background subjects. Teams will not be required to fire cookers as part of the test.
A standby test will be prepared in case the main test is completely ruined by the weather.
19 CDC teams participated in this competition.
(b) Care of the Homeless
Teams of eight personnel, each team selecting its own leader.
The following tasks will be included in the test:-
(1) setting up a village auxiliary rest centre
(2) billeting paper exercise
(3) reception of homeless into the auxiliary rest centre
18 CDC teams participated in this competition.
Industrial First Aid
Each team will have four members.
The test will be based on “First Aid” the authorised manual of the the St. John Ambulance Brigade and the British Red Cross Society. The test will include oral questions on the background of Civil Defence.
20 ICDS teams participated in this competition.
Despatch riders
This will be an individual competition of a practical nature and will not count towards the team award.
It will comprise of a route run of about 20 miles, coupled with tests to assess riders’ skill in the control of their machines.
The final competiton results are shown below:
Note that the winner of the Dispatch Riders competition was a woman! A bit of a shock result for the mid-1960s.
