4.10 Social Welfare 4.10.1 Hostels As severe problems would exist in the aftermath of an air raid, in 1939 the City Council had asked religious organisations and voluntary helpers to collaborate and to undertake the care of people rendered destitute or homeless as a result of bombing. Under the inspiring leadership of the Dean of Bristol, the Very Rev. H.W.Blackburne, the Voluntary Hostel Committee, composed of clergy and members of all religious denominations was set up, the members of which established some 77 Hostels, in such places as church halls and schools, these subsequently being equipped by the city's Social Welfare Committee. 4.10.2 Woman's Voluntary Service Another important organisation, formed under Lady Reading in 1938, was the Woman's Voluntary Service for Air Raid Precautions, the contribution of which during the subsequent war was truly prodigious. Blood Transfusion campaigns, the salvage of paper and other scarce materials, the relief of evacuees and canteen services were but a few of the tasks undertaken by the WVS. It also recruited and trained drivers for ambulances, assisted in the movement of patients from hospitals and collected an enormous amount of clothes which it repaired and distributed to air raid victims, whilst always being on hand with a never ending supply of tea! These are but a few samples of the work of this remarkable organisation, and in view of what its members did throughout the war it is difficult to understand how in previous crises in the nation's history the country managed to survive without the WVS. NEXT