In November 1938, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain placed Sir John Anderson in charge of Air Raid Precautions. Sir John was a scientist turned politician who led the Ministry of Home Security whose responsibilities covered all central and regional civil defence organisations, such as air raid wardens, rescue squads, fire services, and the Women’s Voluntary Service. It was also responsible for providing public shelters.

Anderson commissioned the engineer William Patterson to design a small and cheap shelter that could be erected in people’s gardens. The first ‘Anderson’ shelter was erected in a garden in Islington, London on 25 February 1939 and, between then and the outbreak of the war in September, around 1.5 million shelters were distributed to people living in areas expected to be bombed by the Luftwaffe. During the war a further 2.1 million were erected. (source: https://andersonshelters.org.uk/)

That total should be added to by another 20 or so, as during their recently Easter holiday, Prep VI kept themselves busy and demonstrated their creativity by creating their own versions of the WW2 air raid shelters, including an edible version! We’re sure you’ll agree that these models look absolutely fabulous.