There was a lot more detail to be given out and the meeting would obviously be a longish one. A break was therefore made, and Colonel Piper sent off Major M. Lewis, Captain Emery, and myself with the key of the Bristol University S.T.C. Orderly Room, so that we could make a start while he remained behind to receive more detailed instructions. Colonel Piper had solved his Headquarter problem by borrowing the S.T.C. Orderly Room, and this was the commencement of unlimited help and kindness which the staff of the STC and the University personally continued to give us. Without this enthusiastic operation, the difficulties of this Battalion would have been greatly increased. More will be heard of this help from time to time. It is bound to continually crowd into a history of this Unit of the Home Guard.

On arrival at the Orderly Room, we looked around and, on a shelf, found a number of box files which proved on examination to contain the enrolment forms of those who had already joined. There were no lists or rolls, the business of enrolling was still in full swing and there was no staff in existence. Any forms on which telephone numbers appeared were handed over to Emery who had installed himself on the phone, while others were sorted into piles according to the roads and districts on the addresses. There was an immediate response to the telephone and others quickly began to arrive. Any with cars were given a series of addresses to call on, and I went off with a batch which took me through Henleaze Rd. to a final address at Combe Dingle. Arriving back at my home I had a quick cup of tea and left again to report back to the S.T.C. Orderly Room. All was bustle and cars and crowds, and the roadblocks we seemed to be responsible for were the Suspension Bridge; Falcondale Rd.; and Southmead Rd. Arms and ammunition were being given out, secured on loan from the STC, and men organised into parties.

Only a few minutes seemed to pass after my return before I had left to start duty on the Suspension Bridge. Alphabetical order seemed to have entered into the selection and I found the man I was coupled with was T.H.M. Brown, unknown to me then but we did several similar duties together before duties changed. His cheerful companionship was a great help, both when business was brisk and when there was nothing to do but while away the hours.

As far as I remember the duty was elastic, in the rush hours four men went on together, two dealing with the traffic each way, in the quieter times, two were sufficient. The reliefs worked from home as there was no accommodation for any guard at the bridge. A policeman was supposed to lend his authority and experience in case of trouble. It wasn’t a bad duty while it lasted. The Bridge was an easy post, with no buses and a narrow entrance. The weather was fine, and we had our rush hours when cars were returning from an evening run in the country. I could not at first understand why some people became so embarrassed when stopped and examined. It proved they were clients of Browns Bank - he was a Bank Manager. They were eminently respectable citizens but were returning often with someone else’s wife as a companion instead of their own. They found the inspection by their Bank Manager just a little disturbing.

Other recollections of the early duty are of visits by Captain Emery in a very impressive Chrysler car, his frequent production of a bottle of beer on these visits and of the near surprise by a Police Superintendent of one of the Constables sipping one of these welcome beers while on duty. The precedent of the visiting Officer bringing round a supply of beer on his visiting rounds is one that seemed to quickly fall into disuse.