Some members of the Women’s Auxiliary Services in Warren Gardens, Lisburn, 1941 (ILC&LM Collection). The full list of names from left to right are: Miss Scott, Dr May Quinn (WVS), R. Gibson (Air Raid Precuations), unknown member of the Red Cross, H. Houghton, Mrs Brown (Red Cross), Mrs Deans (WVS), John D. Barbour (Lisburn Urban District Council), Maureen Crothers (WVS), Mrs Isobel King (WVS), and Mrs G. Gillespie (WVS).
During the Second World War, many women volunteered in auxiliary services on the home front, including the Red Cross and St. John’s Ambulance Brigade. One of the most popular organisations was the Women’s Voluntary Service or WVS. It was established in Northern Ireland in 1941, and membership peaked at around 24,000. Their duties included allocating clothes to evacuees, distributing Red Cross parcels, canteen services, home help, salvage, and transport.
In September 1944, a team of 20 members from Northern Ireland went to London to relieve the city’s WVS. They had been strained by the damage caused by German flying bombs, launched by the Nazis in the aftermath of D-Day.
Lisburn’s WVS District Organiser was Maureen Louisa Crothers.
Our exhibition, D-Day 1944: Wartime Lisburn and the Battle for Normandy, included a WVS uniform and other objects highlighting the vital role played by women both at home and at the front.