Royal Voluntary Service

Royal Voluntary Service

Legal status	Charity
Purpose	Helping people in need
Website	Official
Formerly called	Women's Voluntary Services (WVS) 1938–1966 Women's Royal Voluntary Service (WRVS) 1966–2004

The Royal Voluntary Service (known as the Women's Voluntary Services (WVS) from 1938 to 1966; Women's Royal Voluntary Service (WRVS) from 1966 to 2004 and WRVS from 2004 to 2013) is a voluntary organisation concerned with helping people in need throughout England, Scotland and Wales. It was founded in 1938 by Stella Isaacs, Marchioness of Reading, as a British women's organisation to recruit women into the Air Raid Precautions (ARP) services to help in the event of War.

Origins and Objectives

The official story of the origins of the WVS says that Lady Reading was approached by Sir Samuel Hoare, the Home Secretary, who had telephoned her at home asking her if she would start an organisation to recruit women into the Air Raid Precautions services.^[1] However, recent evidence has been found to suggest that it was actually Lady Reading who approached the Home Secretary. In a letter to Lady Reading sent after the end of the war, Sir Wilfred Eady said "I think you know how proud I am to have been connected with the WVS, even though I was rather alarmed when you first brought the proposal to Sammy [Sir Samuel Hoare]."^[2]

However the initial contact was made, in March 1938 Lady Reading set about drafting the objectives for a new independent women's organisation to fill the country's need should war ever come, in the drafts titled the Women's Enrolment League.^[3] On 16 May 1938 Lady Reading accepted the Chairmanship of the Women's Voluntary Services for Air Raid Precautions; and on 20 May 1938, Sir Samuel Hoare set out the new body's objectives in a letter to her:

"...its immediate aims in co-operation with local authorities ... :-

(1) the enrolment of women for the Air Raid Precautions Services of the Local Authorities;

(2) to help bring home to every household in the country what air attack may mean;

(3) to make known to every household what it can do to protect itself and help the community."

"...I firmly believe that if this country can demonstrate to the world its preparedness and its capacity as a free community to organise itself for its own protection this will be one of the most effective ways of preserving peace."^[4]

While the WVS had a Chairman and offices in Queen Anne's Chambers at 41 Tothill Street, by 16 May,^[3] it would not be officially launched until 18 June 1938 with a statement by the Home Secretary in the House of Commons.^[1]

The WVS was initially seen as a recruiting agency for the Air Raid Precautions services, attracting women to help with the Civil Nursing Reserve and Hospital Supply Depots, or to be ambulance drivers or Air Raid Wardens. The original target had been to recruit 30,000 women, but by the end of December 1938 this target had been reached^[5] and it had become clear that the WVS could achieve much more than the government had originally envisaged. It began to assist local authorities in whatever way was needed and gained the slogan "The WVS never says No".^[1] This led to a re-consideration of the name and purpose of the organisation and to encompass its expanding role, it was renamed the Women's Voluntary Services for Civil Defence in February 1939.^[6]

The popularity of the WVS continued to grow as the threat of war came closer, and by the outbreak of war on 3 September 1939, the WVS had recruited over 300,000 members.^[5]

Organisation & Structure

The WVS/WRVS was a voluntary organisation, and it was Lady Reading's vision that there would be no ranks. It was perhaps the only organisation where you could find a Duchess and a Char lady working side by side. While many members of the WVS mucked in on pretty much all tasks, the idea of an organisation without a hierarchy would not have worked and so while there were no ranks, there were titles. Women were recruited for specific tasks, whether that was to drive ambulances, to be a member of a knitting work party or collect National Savings. Inevitably those women who signed up for one thing often ended up being co-opted for other work, especially if they showed aptitude.

The WVS was split into 12 Regions (using the same boundaries as Civil Defence) which started with 1 in the NE of England and moved clockwise down the country and back up. London was Region 12 and Scotland Region 11. Each Region had a Regional Administrator who was paid for by the Home Office. Under this each County had a County Organiser and 'staff' and below that were the Centres. During and after the Second World War, there were almost 2,000 WVS centres around Great Britain^[7] (as well as Northern Ireland during the war) each at the sharp end of providing help to their communities. Each was prominently positioned within a town or village and was run by a Centre Organiser appointed by Headquarters in London. Each Centre Organiser had a team of members who were responsible for different aspect of WVS work e.g. evacuation, Training, Food or Clothing.^[8] Under their direction were the 'ordinary' members.

While Centre Organisers had ultimate control over the work they did in their areas, they were tightly scrutinised by the County and Regional offices and Headquarters. Each Centre had to file a monthly Narrative Report in quadruplicate which allowed both the sharing of good practice and ideas, but also allowed those in charge to keep tabs on their members. These Narrative reports which were produced from 1938-1992 are inscribed on the UNESCO UK Memory of the World register and are considered one of the most important documents for social and women's history produced in the 20th century.^[9] In addition headquarters issued substantial numbers of circular notices each year informing Organisers of new projects and re-enforcing the rules and regulations.

This structure stayed in place almost unchanged until the Local Government reorganisations in the 1970s which changed boundaries and led to changes in regional organisation and the amalgamation and closure of some centres as District Councils were introduced. Through the 1990s cost cutting and the professionalisation of the organisation meant that Centre Organisers and County and Regional Offices were phased out and the centres were closed. Headquarters which had been in London since 1938 was moved out to Milton Hill House in Oxfordshire in 1997 and by 2004 there were no local or regional centres remaining. The organisation of large areas (usually comprising several counties) and the services within them were taken on by members of staff and local services (such as Meals on Wheels, Darby and Joan clubs or Hospital Shops) were managed independently.

In 2013 Royal Voluntary Service resurrected the centre model, which are now called 'Hubs' and there are 67 spread across Great Britain.

World War II

Evacuation, clothing distribution and returning soldiers

The WVS played a key part in the evacuation of civilians from urban areas. The WVS had been asked to pinpoint areas of safety and billeting for evacuated children. Moving children out of the cities proved reasonably easy. Getting them to a known area of safety proved a lot more difficult as trains did not always arrive at an expected destination or would turn up at a reception point unexpectedly. The WVS is credited with helping to move 1.5 million people (the majority were children) out of cities in the early days of September 1939.

The WVS also played a major role in the collection of clothing required for the needy. In October 1939, Lady Reading broadcast to the United States about the need for clothing in the UK. The broadcast led to large quantities of clothing (known as "Bundles for Britain") being sent over to Great Britain by the American Red Cross. These were distributed from WVS Emergency Clothing Stores.

When troops returned to ports after the evacuation at Dunkirk, members of the WVS were there to greet them and hand out food, drink and warm clothing. The WVS base at the railway station in Headcorn, Kent was an especially busy place for feeding returning soldiers before they dispersed—a spit was installed so that meat could be roasted there and then. The WVS also played a vital part during the Blitz of London and other cities.

The Blitz

By the time of the Blitz, women in the WVS were adept at providing food and drink around the clock. While ARP wardens and firemen fought the fires, women in the WVS set up mobile canteens to keep them refreshed, thus placing themselves in serious physical danger with collapsing buildings a constant threat. When the raids ended, the WVS also played a part in looking after those who were injured and had lost their homes. Records indicate that the WVS dealt with and helped over 10,000 people every night of the Blitz.

As the Blitz lasted for 57 nights, the WVS helped in total a vast number of people who went to their rest centres. Some people stayed just for a night—many stayed for much longer and stretched the resources of the WVS to the limit. In Barnes, one WVS member fed 1,200 bomb victims in just one day, cooking in her own kitchen.

It would be difficult to overstate the importance of the work done by the WVS during the Blitz: the rest centres provided shelter, food, and importantly, sanitation. But working so near to the centre of the bombing inevitably led to casualties. 241 members of the WVS were killed during the Blitz and many more were wounded. 25 WVS offices were destroyed.

Other activities

The WVS began running IIPs (Incident Inquiry Points), places where people came to find out about their loved ones who were in an area that had been bombed in order to free the ARP to work with the fire brigade. The WVS also helped with the Queen's Messenger Food Convoys which took food to areas in need after a bombing raid. The people who survived the bombing of Coventry received help from one of the convoys with 14,000 meals being served.

By 1941, one million women belonged to the WVS. Their work did not slacken after the end of the Luftwaffe's bombing raids. The Battle of the Atlantic and the devastating toll of merchant ships sunk by U-boats led to shortages in Great Britain. The WVS did all that it could to assist in the collection of required material for the war effort and also to educate people not to waste what they had.

Each WVS centre had its own Salvage Officer and Food Leader. The Food Leader did whatever was required at a local level to assist the authorities in the complicated task of food rationing. Educational pamphlets were produced and lectures held. The WVS organised campaigns such as 'Salute the Soldier', 'Wings for Victory', 'Spitfire Funds' and Warship Week.

D-Day

In the buildup to D-Day, the expertise the WVS had in catering was put to use again. The skills learned during the Blitz were again put to good use when the V1 and V2 rockets fell on London. Once again, the WVS played a key role in evacuation. With the success of D-Day, the WVS moved into Europe to support troops there. The first WVS abroad had landed in Italy with the success of the invasion there.

Other Overseas WVS Organisations

The WVS model proved to be so successful that other countries around the world set up their own version of the WVS during the war, with the assistance of British WVS. The most successful of these was in India (formed in 1942),^[10] especially in Bengal, which had during the war a membership of over 10,000^[11] and continued into the 1950s. The Americans also had a WVS started soon after the start of the war by an American woman who had been working with the WVS in Northampton, England.^[11] WVS organisations were also set up in Canada and Australia.^[11]

Post World War II

In the immediate post war era, the WVS continued to operate as food rationing remained in place. Such was the work that it did, that the new Labour government funded the WVS from central government funds.

In 1952, Queen Elizabeth II agreed to become patron of the WVS and in 1966, she awarded the service the honour of adding 'Royal' to its title. Becoming the Women's Royal Voluntary Service

The organisation evolved to helping isolated and lonely people, particularly the elderly. They are particularly well known as providers of the Meals on Wheels service which delivers hot meals to the housebound. Their mission is "to help people to maintain independence and dignity in their homes and communities, particularly in later life."

In 1968, the Government dismantled the Civil Defence Corps, to which WRVS had been affiliated, and WRVS was registered as a charity from 16 January 1968.

Present day

The services they now provide are practical services delivered with warmth and care to thousands of older and housebound people every day such as Meals on Wheels, Good Neighbours and community transport.

They also run hospital shops and cafés where any profits are returned to the hospital to improve services for patients, staff and visitors.

Royal Voluntary Service emergency teams provide back-up to the professional services and members of the public in times for major incidents such as the Lockerbie disaster, Hillsborough disaster, Buncefield fuel depot blast and flooding crises in July 2007 by running rest centres and providing emergency feeding to members of the public, fire crews and police.

In 2004, the organization's name was changed from the Women's Royal Voluntary Service to simply WRVS in an attempt to modernise its image and in recognition of the fact that 11% of its 60,000 volunteers were men. In 2013, it changed its name to Royal Voluntary Service,^[12] to further dispel the myth that it is an organisation for women only; currently about 5% of its volunteers are men.^[13]

Uniform

The WVS got its first uniform in June 1939 when an overcoat and hat was launched. They and the suit uniform which followed shortly after were designed by Digby Morton the famous London couturier, and the thick green/grey harris tweed from which they were produced was supplied by Harrods.^[14] The uniform was however not free, and a full suit uniform, coat, hat and scarf cost £9 4s 7d in 1940, about two weeks of the average man's wages.^[15]

The first free WVS uniform would not be introduced until 1953 when those WVS members who were part of the Civil Defence Corps were issued with a free dress, beret and overcoat. The uniform was not compulsory, except for those carrying out certain roles (such as manning a mobile canteen) and many members wore WVS overalls or just their membership badge.

The WVS uniform changed very little over the years, the first was in 1966 when the cut of the suits was altered to make them more fashionable, and then in the 1970s Polyesters were introduced. WRVS ceased to be a uniformed organisation in 1998 and today Volunteers can wear their own clothes (and their badge) or branded workwear, such as poloshirts and fleeces.

Women's Royal Voluntary Service Medal

The Women's Voluntary Service Medal was instituted on 23 March 1961, when the Home Secretary Richard Butler announced in the Commons that the Queen had approved the medal.^[16]

The WVS Long Service medal is presented by Royal Voluntary Service on behalf of the Queen and is awarded to a volunteer after they complete forty duties each year over a period of fifteen years. Holders of the medal qualify for the award of a clasp after each subsequent period of twelve years service.^[17]

When the WVS was awarded the honour of adding ‘Royal’ to its name in 1966, it was discussed whether the name of the medal should be changed to reflect the new name of the organisation. However, it was considered that it would be unfair to differentiate between those members who had received the medal before 1966 and those after. All had done the same service and all deserved identical recognition. Beside this, any change to the medal would require an application for a completely new medal and given the problems securing the first it was decided against.^[17]

By the spring of 1990, 32,371 medals had been awarded.^[18]

In Popular Culture

Mass-Observation diarist Nella Last joined the Women's Voluntary Service in her hometown of Barrow-in-Furness at the outbreak of World War Two. Her wartime diary contains frequent references to her WVS work. Her association with the WVS and its members are a central feature of the 2006 made-for-TV film dramatisation of her wartime diaries.

References

Citations

Bibliography

• Beauman, Katharine Bentley (1977). Green Sleeves: The Story of WVS/WRVS. London: Seeley Service & Co.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Royal Voluntary Service (United Kingdom).

• Official website
• The army Hitler forgot