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Saturday, 26 February 2011

Anderson Shelters and Air Raid Precautions (A.R.P.)

At Elburton Primary School, we are currently in the process of acquiring, renovating and installing a genuine wartime Anderson Shelter in our 1940s-themed school garden. After London, Plymouth was one of the most heavily bombed cities during the 'Blitz', and most houses would've been issued with an Anderson Shelter. Many gardens in the city may still have one, either buried and forgotten about, or used as a storage facility. Anderson Shelters played a key role in keeping families safe during German bombing raids over the city; the details of their design, issue and use are detailed below.

Air Raid Precautions (A.R.P.)

By 1935, British officials were discussing air raid precautions. Little was done, though, until the crisis of 1938, when many European countries were alarmed by Germany's behaviour towards Czechoslovakia. In Britain there was panic as people were afraid of bombing attacks. Evacuation plans were hastily announced; anti-aircraft guns were set up; and deep trenches were dug in London parks to serve as air raid shelters. The crisis ended after talks in Munich but it had shown that British civil defence was weak.

One result of the crisis was the fast development of air raid precautions (A.R.P.) under the leadership of Sir John Anderson. Spending on A.R.P. rose from £9.5 million in 1937-38 to £51 million in 1939-40.

Experts said that bombing would kill hundreds of thousands of people. So new plans were made for mass evacuation, the construction of large public shelters, and the erection of small units in private gardens ("Anderson" shelters) and inside houses ("Morrison" shelters).

Although the War began in September 1939, bombing of Britain did not start immediately. People developed a false sense of security and were not keen to have shelters. Once heavy bombing began, from the summer of 1940 onwards, shelters became more popular. Railway arches and basements were also used and, in London, people slept at night in the Underground Stations and tunnels.

The shelters - big and small - saved the lives of very many people, but there were deaths when large bombs fell directly on shelters. In some cases, many people were killed at once - for example, 64 died at Balham Underground Station when it took a direct hit on 15 October 1940. Late in the War, in 1944 and 1945, the German flying bombs and V 2 rockets were new dangers that caused many deaths.

By the end of the War, German bombing had killed just over 60,000 people in Britain. The experts had over-estimated the strength of the German air force, and the amount of bombs that it could drop. However, many more would have died if shelters had not been provided.

ANDERSON SHELTERS

The Anderson shelter was designed in 1938 by William Paterson and Oscar Carl Kerrison in response to a request from the Home Office.

It was named after Sir John Anderson, then Lord Privy Seal with special responsibility for preparing air-raid precautions immediately prior to the outbreak of World War II, and it was he who then initiated the development of the shelter. After evaluation by Dr David Anderson, Bertram Lawrence Hurst, and Sir Henry Jupp, of the Institution of Civil Engineers, the design was released for production.

Anderson shelters were designed to accommodate up to six people. The main principle of protection was based on curved and straight galvanised corrugated steel panels.

Six curved panels were bolted together at the top, so forming the main body of the shelter, three straight sheets on either side, and two more straight panels were fixed to each end, one containing the door — a total of fourteen panels. A small drainage sump was often incorporated in the floor to collect rainwater seeping into the shelter.

The shelters were 6 ft (1.8 m) high, 4 ft 6 in (1.4 m) wide, and 6 ft 6 in (2 m) long.

They were buried 4 ft (1.2 m) deep in the soil and then covered with a minimum of 15 in (0.4 m) of soil above the roof. The earth banks could be planted with vegetables and flowers, that at times could be quite an appealing sight and in this way would become the subject of competitions of the best-planted shelter among householders in the neighbourhood.

The internal fitting out of the shelter was left to the owner and so there were wide variations in comfort.

Anderson shelters were issued free to all householders who earned less than £250 a year, and those with a higher income were charged £7. 150,000 shelters of this type were distributed from February 1939 to the outbreak of war. During the war a further 2.1 million were erected.

At the end of the war in Europe, households who had received an Anderson shelter were expected to remove their shelters and local authorities began the task of reclaiming the corrugated iron.


Householders who wished to k
eep their Anderson shelter (or more likely the valuable metal) could pay a nominal fee.

Because of the large number made and their robustness, many Anderson shelters still survive. Many were dug up after the war and converted into storage sheds for use in gardens and allotments. Maybe you have one at the bottom of your garden. . .


Friday, 25 February 2011

New Potting Shed

Over the last couple of days, we have been working in the garden to prepare for the new growing season.

As a result of all the hard work by parents and pupils at Elburton, we managed to collect enough 'Let's Grow' vouchers from the Morrison's gardening scheme to aquire, amongst other things, a new potting shed. The shed's base measures 1827mm x 2422mm, and has a height of 2460mm, making it perfect for small groups of children to use to plant seeds and repot seedlings. The shed will also act as a much needed storage facility for the children's gardening tools and other equipment.

Although the construction of the shed has now been completed, there are a few cosmetic things to do in order to make it fit in better with the 1940s theme this year. We plan to fix some hooks along the front of the shed which may be used to hang steel helmets, gas mask bags, coats etc, and the whole shed will be given a coat of 'dark oak' wood preservative to 'age' the wood a little more - it looks far to new at the moment!






The inside of the shed features a long potting table behind the glazed roof, but apart from this, there are no shelves to store pots, seed trays etc. Also, there are no internal hooks to hand gardening tools; this will be the next job.

We are very pleased with this new addition to the school garden, and look forward to seeing the children putting it to good use!

TTFN!

Wednesday, 23 February 2011

Anderson Shelter Located!

Great news!

Plymouth Museum have managed to locate a genuine WWII Anderson Shelter which is currently located in West Park, Plymouth. Apparently, the shelter has already been dismantled, which will make transporting and reconstructing it much easier, and the current owner is willing to donate it to a good cause.

We are going to look at it on Friday, so fingers crossed it is in good condition!


This cut-away picture shows how air raid shelters of this type were installed. . .lots of digging!!

Monday, 21 February 2011

January - February 2011: Garden Planning

Over the winter, the garden was tidied, and the beds dug over. The greenhouse was cleared, and many of the 'seaside garden' features were removed. The bamboo/willow canes that formed the archway structure in the centre of the garden were removed, and the canes put in dry storage for the winter. Manure was dug into the beds in preparation for the 2011 growing season.

Between November and January, ideas for the 2011 garden were formulated, and different possibilities were discussed. In the end, we decided that the 2011 garden would have a 1940s theme, where the children could 'Dig For Victory'!
The Year 3 & 6 children at Elburton will be studying this topic in the summer term, and we thought this would prove to be an interesting and exciting learning resource for them.

As with last year's garden, different features were discussed to fit into this theme, and to add to the learning experience of the children's topic work. The first feature that came to mind was an Anderson Shelter. These were common features in back gardens in wartime Britain, and were delivered to households free of charge for families to erect themselves. Although an Anderson Shelter could be built from modern materials, we really wanted to source an original shelter and locate it permanently in the garden.
















We are currently working in partnership with Plymouth City Museum to source a war time Anderson Shelter, which will form an important part of our overall display.
We are also in the process of drawing up plans, assisted by the apprentices at Babcock Marine, Plymouth, to fabricate another exciting feature for the garden; this will be revealed at a later date once designs have been finalised. Various other features are currently being sourced, restored or constructed, and we'll keep you updated on any developments in the future.

We look forward to an exciting and inspirational year in the garden - watch this space!