The Mullion Papers
I’ve called this page The Mullion Papers to reflect the fact that this document has survived in Mullion, Cornwall since it was issued in July 1945. This makes it very nearly eighty years old!
It was thanks to a member of Cornwall Fire and Rescue Retired Members Association, Mrs Shirley Ireland, that we have it at all. When I spoke to Shirley about it, I was told that it was initially issued to the Officer in Charge at Mullion Fire Station. That person was to become Shirley’s father-in-law when Shirley and the late Raymond (Ray) Ireland were married.
Amongst the other papers that Shirley had to deal with following her husband’s passing was this set of Regional Administrative Orders spanning some eighty pages.
For those interested in Fire Service history these pages will shed light on how things were done at that time, the mid 1940’s. The country was emerging from the Second World War and fire fighting and the running of fire stations were to take on a new national structure.
I hope that you will enjoy reading about the way that matters were to be conducted at what were then referred to as whole-time and part-time stations.
It is intriguing to note the focus of attention on the role of ‘mess managers’. The mess manager role endured until cooks and catering arrangements on stations were abolished, probably in the mid-1990’s. Anyone with specific knowledge care to chip in?
