CAMPAIGNS AND EXHIBITIONS

The first large-scale Exhibition in the Region was held on behalf of the R.A.F. and was displayed in Nottingham, Derby, Grimsby and Lincoln. On June 9th, 1941, the Exhibition which was of pictures and souvenirs was opened by the Lord Mayor of Nottingham at the Public Library. Substantial preliminary publicity had been arranged, including newspaper advertisements, hanging cards in passenger transport vehicles and stops and the distribution of a large number of tickets. The theft, on the first day of the Exhibition of a medallion from the loaned collection of souvenirs of the late Capt. Albert Ball, V.C. was not an unmitigated evil for the very full and widespread publicity through press, Schools and broadcast resulted not only in the prompt return of the stolen medallion, but in exceptionally large attendances at the Exhibition.

A British Army Exhibition staged during the winter months of 1942-43 drew large audiences at its various sites. At the Derby Art Gallery from December 23rd to January 6th over forty thousand people visited this War Office Exhibition, which had been opened by the Mayor. Similar successes were achieved when the Exhibition visited Nottingham and Northampton.

Other Exhibitions which have demonstrated the work of our Services have included “Bomb Damage”, “Saving Life at Sea”, and an A.T.S. Exhibition, “Bomb Damage”, which was the story of our air attacks, was displayed in 1943 at Grantham, Leicester, Derby, Nottingham, Lincoln, Chesterfield, Buxton and Peterborough, “Saving Life at Sea” which was at Derby and Nottingham in August and September 1942, included a lifeboat amongst its exhibitions. At the Nottingham Library this was displayed on the lawn outside the building and the help of 16 firemen was needed in handling it. When the A.T.S. Exhibition was at Leicester and Northampton in March and April of 1942 a great attraction was the parade through the streets each day of an A.T.S. band.

Conditions in Occupied Countries were portrayed in the Exhibition “The Evil we Fight”, which was displayed at Chesterfield Derby, Nottingham, Kettering, Mansfield, Lincoln and Northampton in the 160 -2-summer of 1944. In Derby 50,000 people attended. When the Exhibition travelled to Nottingham Library and was opened by the Lord Mayor, a vote of thanks moved by a Polish Group Captain hit the Press headlines.

The Stalingrad Sword was only in this Region for one day, November 8th 1943. The visit was an extraordinary success, queues stood all day, the number of viewers exceeding fifteen thousand.

Campaigns have been undertaken to assist various Government Departments and the Services.

One of the earliest of these tasks, run on behalf of the Ministries of Supply, Aircraft Production and Labour and National Services, was the recruitment of women for war work.

Some weeks before the opening of the Campaign in Northampton the Local Information Committees in the area proved helpful in offering suggestions about meetings, types of speakers, distribution of publicity material and ( in Northampton) a Poster Design Competition. Some opposition to the Campaign from the Boot and Shoe clothing industries was encountered at Kettering. Snowy weather during the month of January 1942, made the task of running the campaign in Northampton very difficult. In April a similar appeal for R.O.F. workers was made in Derby and in May at Leicester. A heat wave during May was almost as much of a handicap as the January freeze-up had been.

The Campaign in Leicester took the form of a large Exhibition at the Ball Hotel, with girls working the machines. A great effort was made by the Press, films and Meetings Department to give every assistance to make the campaign a success.

The Ministry of Fuel and Power were many times given assistance in Campaigns to persuade the public to save fuel. The largest exhibition on this subject “Battle for Fuel” was held at the Bell Hotel in January 1943, where the interior of a coal mine was shown - complete with pit pony. Those taking part in the campaign included Mr. Tom Smith (Parliamentary Secretary Ministry of Fuel and Power), Com. Stephen King Hall, M.P., Miss Phyllis Neilson Terry and Mr. Freddie Grisewood. The Corporation of Leicester were persuaded to 161 -3-inaugurate a Publicity Campaign and a special sub-committee, set up by the Chairman of the Leicester Emergency Committee, supervised the publicity including posters, banners, window stickers, bus bills, loud speakers, press advertising, etc. More than 73,000 people visited the Exhibition.

Later in the year (August) a Fuel Coach visited Railway stations at Nottingham and Derby and was a preliminary to Fuel Economy campaigns timed for the autumn and winter.

Amongst General Exhibitions material which has been used have been picture sets, of which about 6,000 sets have been distributed to industrial sites and 2,000 to non-industrial sites since December, 1943, and photogravures of which about 5,000 sets have been distributed to various organisations during a period of two years.

In areas where newspapers carry few war pictures, suitable sites mainly in shop windows, were chosen for the display of news photographs to supplement the newspaper service. Each of the sixty sites chosen carried ten news pictures which were changed every week.

A retail display circuit, which involved special screens being fitted in large stores, was organised to cover Derby, Leicester and Nottingham. Various aspects of the war effort were illustrated by this method.

About six thousand sets of photographs were loaned to various organisations, factories, etc. in the Region. Such sets were borrowed from Headquarters for particular enquiries received by the Department and, therefore, the subject matter covered a wide variety of subjects.

Of particular interest to Americans, and much in demand, were sets of large photographs illustrating British scenery, churches, castles, etc.

The two sets of United Nations flags held at the Regional Office were constantly being borrowed by various local Authorities when National campaigns (War Savings, Grow More Food) etc. were held.

Industrial Publicity

Acting on instructions and after consultations with the Regional Production Board, the R.I.O., formed a Regional Industrial Publicity Committee, of which he was Chairman in April 1943. At this inaugural meeting it was pointed out that there was a great need for co-ordination in industrial publicity to prevent overlapping. Regular meetings of this Committee which dealt with all forms of publicity to workers - posters, speakers, films, exhibitions, etc., continued until February 1945.

A Works Relations Centre was opened in July, 1944, at Carrington Street, Nottingham, and later moved to Castlegate, Nottingham in the Spring of 1945.