On 9th July 1935, the Home Office, the government department charged with public protection, issued the First Circular on Air Raid Precautions (ARP). Shortly after, the local authorities start setting up and recruiting their ARP Services. In December 1937, the ARP Act was passed so that from 1 January 1938, running the ARP Services became compulsory for local authorities rather than the Home Office.
Soon after war was declared on 3rd September 1939, ‘ARP’ became ‘Civil Defence General Services’ and volunteer recruitment rose to a maximum of 1,900,000 men, women and included boys and girls between the ages of 15 and 18 years.