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The ambulance room was greatly extended and re-equipped with the most
modern apparatus. Before long the increasing number of women employees
led to the appointment of a part-time woman medical officer. Dr. B.
L. Renwick, who had special training as an ophthalmologist. A short-wave
clinic for the treatment of catarrh and rheumatic diseases was set
up in 1941, and an eye service with full-time optician in 1943. In
the following year a works health committee was established with the
object of promoting better health in the factory by encouraging the
fullest use of the medical service and improving working conditions.
 Of
new canteens, the largest was a two-storey building at the aircraft
factory, where 2500 main meals were served daily on the cafeteria
system; the kitchens were designed on motion study lines and equipped
with steam and electric cooking equipment and refrigeration. The
canteen service supplied dispersed departments with about 800 cooked
dinners a day and also fed civil defence workers, often at unusual
hours.
The
M-V Club with a considerably increased membership continued to be
the main centre of social activity. The bowls section, always the
largest, had the record number of 439 in 1944. At Sheffield the
works acquired its own sports ground in 1940, and in 1944 the sports
association turned itself into a sports and social club.
The
M-V war savings group was formed in March 1940. In its earlier years
the Company gave £200 a year to be distributed as prizes through
a ballot scheme, and campaigns conducted by a savings committee
raised the membership to more than 8000. The group still flourishes,
and total savings have exceeded £700,000. Another aid to the
national exchequer was the gift from M-V employees and the Company
of sufficient money to buy a Spitfire.
A.R.P. AND CIVIL DEFENCE
A.r.p. organization began early in 1938. A call for volunteers brought
a fine response, especially from the 1914-18 veterans, and provided
the backbone of the service throughout the war. By September 1939
there was a complete a.r.p. service with a system of dug-out shelters
and a headquarters under the fire station. From 1940 the chief a.r.p.
officer was W. L. Beeby, who had A. W. Muir, the senior man-hours
instructor, as his first chief executive officer. A section of the
protective covering over the old Manchester sewer (see
p.7) was labelled 'tunnel 4' and utilized as the
control centre; it was equipped with anti-gas and rescue stations
and a hospital with operating room and fifty beds. Later a spotters'
post was established to give the *take cover* alarm signal when
direct attack seemed imminent, and this together with new shelters
nearer the shops is estimated to have saved about 600,000 man-hours
of work. The water tower, which might have provided a landmark for
enemy aircraft, was demolished, and the stump used as a gun site.
Four additional ambulances were bought for a.r.p. service, and two
county ambulances were added for service under the area control.
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