PEOPLE today may well think of Dad's Army as having been solely a Second World War outfit, but not so.
The Journal for this week of 1952 tells us that England was then in the process of setting up a new-style Home Guard nationwide.
"Considerable progress has been made in setting up the framework of the Home Guard in the Western Command which includes Worcestershire. The 5th Battalion covering Worcester and Malvern is to be headed by Lt. Col. A.R Harrison.
"Officers of the Home Guard will be armed with sten guns and the other ranks with rifles. The main piece of uniform will be a steel helmet on which the ranks of the personnel will be painted.
''The training liability for the Home Guard has provisionally been set at a minimum of 15 hours every three months with an annual visit to the firing range."
A large public notice in the same Journal edition invited all eligible men between the ages of 18 and 65 to get "official cards at any Post Office and send off for the facts."
Recruiting
The Journal of 1952 also stated that 2,160 men and women had joined the Civil Defence Corps in Worcestershire since recruiting had begun in November 1949.
Of this total, 1,372 were men and 788 women.
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