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The 1,129 volunteers registered at the end of 1963 comprised 596 recruits (i.e. had not
completed their standard training, or having completed it had not taken a standard test
revision course and passed the test), 353 in Class A (the most active class and taking
advanced training), 32 in Class B and 148 in the Reserve. At 31 December 1964 the corresponding
figures were: 337 recruits; 440 in Class A ; 36 in Class B; and 218 in the Reserve,
a total of 1,031.
Civil Defence exercises—To supplement the theoretical and practical training given in
the lecture room, numerous Civil Defence exercises have been organised either by the
Council or by the metropolitan borough councils. Some have been confined to activities
of a particular section of the Corps but a number of large scale exercises have been held in
which all sections have taken part. It is gratifying that the Ambulance and First Aid Section
has figured largely in nearly all these exercises and has indeed promoted many of them.
Week-end schools and camps for the more highly trained volunteers have been held and
ceremonial occasions have also been well attended. The following notes on a few of the
many exercises held over the years give some impression of their scope and of the planning
and administration involved.
In October 1962 exercise 'Leader 4' involved, for the first time in London, the deployment
of a full ambulance column—some 100 vehicles and 330 personnel.
Exercise 'Leader 7' in March 1963 involved some 700 personnel from all sections of the
Corps, all of whom were fed by the Welfare (Emergency Feeding) Section. Some 250
' casualties ' (all ambulance section volunteers) were made up and taken to the Training
Ground at Bully Fen where they were rescued, treated and taken to ambulance loading
points; from there they were taken by ambulance to a Forward Medical Aid Unit and were
finally evacuated by launch across the Thames, loaded into ambulances again and returned
to a simulated hospital area.
Exercise 'Leader 10' in September 1963 involved over 1,000 personnel and over 100
vehicles—once again a full ambulance column worked to a Forward Medical Aid Unit in
dealing with large numbers of casualties.
Exercise 'Cabot/Whittington' in November 1963 involved Ambulance and Rescue
Section volunteers from both London and Bristol. A convoy and map reading drive to
Bristol on Saturday afternoon was followed by a social evening organised by the Bristol
authorities and by an exercise in the grounds of the Home Office Civil Defence School,
Falfield, Gloucestershire, on Sunday morning. Units returned to London on the Sunday
afternoon.
In May 1964 exercise 'Olympic' broke new ground in that the preliminary planning
for the exercise and the direction of the exercise (movement at night in the early hours of
Sunday morning) was all carried out by volunteer officers as opposed to regular service
training and administrative staff.
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