Evacuees and ARP Training exercises

Members of Herne Bay's First Aid Posts gear up for gas-attack casualties in this remarkable film, which also features a visit to the deep tunnel shelters in the cliffs of Ramsgate.

Beginning with evacuees arriving in Herne Bay, this film shows men and women volunteers from the town's First Aid Post and Mobile Units conduct various emergency exercises including the treatment of gas-attack casualties while wearing protective rubber suits, rescuing bomb victims and practising decontamination. There is also a group inspection of Ramsgate's unique air-raid shelter system followed by a large church parade featuring all the volunteer services.

The film-maker, John Clague, was an architect who set up Clague's Architects in Canterbury in the mid-1930s. This is still a thriving company run by his son Andrew.