View report page

were the usual sanitary appliances, screened around with Hessian
canvas; there was hardly any light and the places were damp, dirty
and smelly, an extraordinary comment on our present civilisation.
In the winter of 1940-41 these conditions were common in many
of the public shelters, but I think the shelter known as 61 Arch was
probably the largest and most insanitary. To deal with these
problems Mr. Richardson, the drainage inspector, for months devoted
practically his whole time to the shelters. Three-tier wooden bunks
were supplied by the Government and erected by the Borough Council.
From November, 1940, onwards a cleansing gang was employed
continuously, going from shelter to shelter taking bunks down, cleansing
creosoting and reassembling them. Even with this degree of supervision,
many bunks were found to be verminous and required disinfestation
and sometimes destruction. In all the larger shelters
washing accommodation was fitted and water-closets were installed
with a proper degree of privacy, greatly improved lighting was achieved,
in most of them a canteen was set up and, as already mentioned,
Medical Aid Posts were established.
These posts were staffed by girls who were members of the British
Red Cross Society and the St. John's Ambulance Brigade and who
had had some degree of training in the care of the sick and injured.
They volunteered from units all over the country, not a few coming
from as far north as Edinburgh and Glasgow, and they gave us
invaluable aid, often working in circumstances none too pleasant and
sharing risks and discomfort cheerfully. They usually came for two
or three weeks during their holidays, but one or two remained with
us throughout the war. Altogether about six hundred came to Bermondsey
for this work. Mr. Richardson did a nightly round of all the
larger shelters and visited the smaller ones at regular though less
frequent intervals. Once a week during all the bombing period the
girls were visited on alternate weeks by the heads of the two organisations
to which they belonged, Lady Louis Mountbatten and Lady
Limerick. His Majesty the King, the Duke of Kent and the Princess
Royal all paid visits at different times to the shelters, and many distinguished
folk from this and from other countries also visited them.
Early in May, 1941, a shelter Medical Officer was appointed and did
valuable work, but by this time the worst period was over and a
thoroughly efficient organisation had already been established, and
from the very first we had always had a doctor on call at night. Some
of the practitioners in the Borough gave us very valuable help in this
way, and it was while she was on this work that Dr. Lesley Probyn
was killed with two members of the British Red Cross Society—Miss
Hartley of Liverpool, and Mrs. Little of Lancaster Gate—in Stainer
Street Arch.
One development of the Medical Aid Posts took the form of a
small underground hospital, which was established at Willson's
Wharf in Tooley Street by the very kind co-operation of the