THE ARP WARDEN & MINNIE BRINSTONE

We lived on the Lower Bristol Road in Bath during the latter part of the War and until I went to sea in 1954.

Next door to us was a shop that was a Tobacconist cum Sweet Shop cum Men's Hairdresser that was owned by a little lady called Miss Minnie Brinstone. She was a confirmed old maid of impeccable virtue with snow white permed hair and diminutive size. She dressed accordingly with a neat coloured pinafore in the shop and starched white coverall in the barber saloon. She did not brook rudeness or anything untoward, she was the epitome of primness and propriety. She was very friendly with my Mum and a lovely neighbour.

Then the next door but one was the "Belvoir Castle", a public house that sold George's Bristol Beer and other beers, it was the local pub operated by a grumpy old man called Alfie. This was a meeting place for the local men particularly after the war, it was a club for guys to get together, socialize, and yarn. It was inevitable that stories about the war were exchanged, particularly the funny ones, and the story of Minnie Brinstone and the ARP Warden came up time and time again.

In the war ARP, stood for Air Raid Precautions and the Wardens had the the task of patrolling the streets to ensure the blackout was effective and no light showed that could help the German bombers find their target. Everyone had heavy blackout curtains to draw tightly at night. Needless to say this semi-official task attracted the odd "jobsworth", you know the guy, a petty official, a pain in the arse that is sometimes a parking attendant in these modern times. [Bill Pertwee plays this part to perfection in the TV series "Dad's Army".] There was one locally where we lived who we will call Bert for this story. Bert became the butt of laughter time and time again and this is how it came to pass.

One day in the War, our hero, Bert, was on patrol, and believed that he could see a chink of light from Minnie Brinstone's up stair's window very late at night. He promptly officiously banged on Miss Brinstone's front door to advise her to cover the window. No response, silence, it was not likely that a maiden lady would answer this late at night. He banged again, he banged harder, and still no response. Silence. No movements whatsoever. Bert was now becoming very officious and looked up to decide what to do.

The shop was at the front of the house with a flat roof so Bert decided to go and get a ladder and go onto the flat roof.

He arrived with a ladder some time later and ascended to the roof and banged on the bedroom window with gusto. Up goes the window with a thud and Minnie Brinstone emptied the contents of a chamber-pot over Bert's head and banged him on his tin hat with the said pot! All of this kerfuffle has not gone unnoticed so a few guys witnessed Bert's baptism in maiden's water.

This entered into local folklore and Bert had to put up with ribaldry for years to come. He took it well really saying that all he was trying to do was his job. Secretly I think that he rather enjoyed his claim to fame.

Foot Note.

Air Raid wardens or ARP wardens had the task of patrolling the streets during the blackouts, to ensure that no light was visible. If a light was spotted, the warden would alert the person/people responsible by shouting something like "Put that light out!" or "Cover that window!". They could report persistent offenders to the local police. They also patrolled the streets during air raids and doused incendiary-bombs with sandbags where possible. There were around 1.4 million ARP wardens in Britain during the war, almost all unpaid part-time volunteers who also held daytime jobs. Some were decorated for Bravery winning the George Medal.