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Volunteering

Volunteering was not a new concept in 1939 when war broke out. People had volunteered to help in various organisations for centuries, including the British Red Cross and St. John Ambulance from the mid nineteenth century.
During peacetime, British Red Cross and St. John Ambulance volunteers carried out duties like crowd control and first aid training.

The destruction of the Second World War required more helping hands than ever before and appeals to the public sparked a surge in the number of volunteers in Britain.
Like today, people had a choice when it came to selecting which voluntary organisation to join. During the Second World War many British-based organisations focussed their services on the conflict’s victims. Volunteer organisations made the necessary changes in order to meet the nation’s needs.
Organisations had specific strengths, capabilities, and missions; some were better equipped to take on health care services while others organised famine relief. Here is a short list of just some of the various organisations’ accomplishments:
- The British Red Cross and St. John Ambulance joined together as the Joint War Organisation, offering health care and welfare services to citizens and soldiers, including first aid, hospital nursing, and POW food parcels.
- Oxfam formed in 1942 because of the war. An Allied naval blockade had cut off food to Greece and severe famine had taken hold. Oxfam worked to get food through to the Greeks, as well as to other hungry people across Europe.
- The Home Guard included men who could not sign up for the armed forces but who wanted to protect the Home Front from enemy fire. The government had expected 150,000; by the end of June 1940 they had 1.5 million men on their lists.

The YMCA introduced mobile canteens to bring refreshments to the troops. During the Blitz, these same canteens—‘Tea Cars’—served up warm brew to the civilian victims of air raids. Other organisations such as the Women’s Voluntary Service also coordinated tea service for both soldiers and civilians.

The Women’s Voluntary Service provided assistance after air raids, taking special care of the many mothers and children braving the Blitz on their own. They also provided general assistance for wartime homemaking by circulating information on rationing, ‘Make Do and Mend’ and ‘Digging for Victory.’

These examples indicate the many services a potential volunteer might provide. Of course, as made clear by the name of the Women’s Voluntary Service, some organisations only allowed women. Others, like the Home Guard, only allowed men.
But generally two characteristics defined all of these volunteers, no matter which organisation they had joined or what specific tasks they carried out. In fact, a simple definition of a volunteer is still the same today. A volunteer:
- signs up for the position without being called up, or forced to do it.
- does not receive payment for the service provided.