Early this week I was sent to Coventry for the
purpose of attending a National Service rally. I was much im- pressed. The proceedings opened with a procession of volunteers. True it is that the majority of the citizens of Coventry remained loyal to their local tradition and indoors. A few straggling bicyclists gazed at the procession with an unsympathetic stare. There they all were: the Air Raid Wardens in their aquascutums, the Rescue and Demolition Parties with their mobile crane, the First Aid Parties with efficiency and aptness flashing in their brisk faces, the Ambulances, the Decontamination Squads horrible in oil- skins and gas-masks, the special constables in blue helmets, the volunteer fire-brigades, the observer corps alert for any form of observation, and the nurses and the voluntary aid detachments walking resolutely in their silk stockings and their high-heeled shoes.
Previous page
