I HAVE been commissioned by WRVS to produce a pictorial history to celebrate its 70th anniversary in 2008. I would welcome information from anyone who has personal experience of the help given by this organisation either during the war or since 1946.

This remarkable organisation has tirelessly contributed to the care and welfare of the population since its somewhat humble beginnings in 1938. Formed as the Women's Voluntary Service for Air Raids Precautions in that year, the organisation was deemed by the Government as the best mechanism to harness the skills and dedication of women for tasks other than those on the front line of home defence.

At the outbreak of war, it was WVS who organised and managed the task of evacuating about one million mothers, children and disabled people from major towns and cities across the country. At the end of the war they helped with the repatriation and resettlement of servicemen and women and provided clothing and knitted items for refuges in Europe.

WVS also provided mobile laundries and canteens, making and sewing sandbags, providing nurseries for young children, helping with the blood transfusion service, collecting and providing clothing for victims of air raids, map making, occupational therapy for workers, collecting salvage, Land Army recruiting and billeting and welfare provision for service personnel and civilians.

One Government official was quoted as saying If there was a job to be done and we couldn't find a Department to deal with it, we gave it to the WVS knowing that it would be done well and without fuss.' The organisation was at the forefront of recycling during the war years and post war, under its new name of the Women's Voluntary Service, and now as WRVS, it has taken a leading role in the provision of welfare services, care of elderly people and emergency support including that given during the recent floods.

All and any information is welcome and can be sent for the attention of Pippa Nash, WRVS, Garden House, Milton Hill, Abingdon OX13 6AD.

JOHN LEETE.