"The G.I.S. and Me"
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recognise the uniform and did give a great deal of help. Others including the Army wondered what and who we were - probably the Irish!!
Before going further, the Government and Army authorities had to be contacted, for they were in charge of all relief operations, and had been ever since the start of hostilities. What a good job they had done to date! They insisted that all those who wished to send teams must send in their plans by a given date. A letter was written offering a number of teams drawn from adult members of the Girl Guide Association who would be willing to go wherever and do whatever was needed.
A reply came back, curt and to the point, saying 'this will not be work for children'. Miss Ward wrote again and still no reply. In desperation on the eve of the last day for applications, one of the committee members set off for Friends House to see if the Quakers could help, they being the oldest established Relief Society. 'Quaker Adventure' by Ruth Fry was already one of our text-books, and Allison Fox of the present generation had been a speaker at the first weekend training at Headquarters. She was afterwards co-opted onto the training team, and gave a great deal of help and advice. It was she who stressed the need to prepare the mind and spirit, and who pointed out that "the only thing certain about relief work is that all things are uncertain!" Hence the title of Miss Stewart Brown's book! (about the work of the G.I.S.) This was to become a signpost for us all, and we found it was very true.
The 'Friends' were very helpfl, and rang up a 'remote' VIP, who sent a message back to say that application forms would be sent at once, by hand, and this saved the day. The G.I.S. came into being.
It seemed so fitting that the oldest Relief Service (barring of course the Red Cross) should help the youngest to enter the ranks of C.O.B.S.R.A. (the Council Of British Societies for Relief Abroad)
Volunteers were called for and an appeal launched. Money for this must not be begged, and short of a comparatively few donations, by St George's Day 1945 £111,000 had been earned, often in incredible ways by the young folk themselves. Money came in from all over the world. Volunteers would go as unpaid workers. The Army provided billets, board, transport and uniforms.
We went to the Army and Navy stores in ones and twos to collect our uniforms; when I went; there were no carrier bags and nothing to pack anything in, and I landed on the pavement waiting for a taxi with everything(!!) on the pavement around me. It is difficult to re-live and remember those days but there I was, and there weren't many empty taxis in 1945!
The G.I.S. gave us 10 shillings a week for pocket money; essentials in the way of insurance contributions etc. were covered. As there was nothing except the odd toothpaste to spend money on, we considered ourselves very well off. This amount did go up a little in the end as things in the shops went up in price.
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