Atomic Target Lancashire

It's every parent's worst nightmare: how does one entertain the kids during the school holidays, stave off the boredom and prevent the household from descending into a warzone? These days, desperate parents can plonk a screen in front of their child and ensure a few hours of peace; in times gone by, however, a little more creativity was required to occupy the kiddiwinks and prevent them from running wild. Hence the need for the half-term playscheme. For a tiny fee, parents of yore could pack their progeny off to the local community centre for a week of thrilling activities, safe in the knowledge that their children couldn't possibly be getting up to anything worrisome, dangerous or frightening... Or that was the idea, anyway. Back in the summer of 1981, Manchester parents happily sent their children trotting off to Langley Community School's playscheme, blissfully unaware that their offspring - aged between six and twelve years old - would be spending their holidays lea...

It's not often that the phrases 'nuclear war' and 'beauty pageants' are uttered in the same sentence. Victims of an atomic blast – burned beyond recognition, eyeballs melted, limbs charred – would hardly be up for strutting their stuff in evening wear or bikinis before an ogling crowd. With that in mind, one would be forgiven for thinking that organising a beauty parade would be far from the minds of Civil Defence planners, whose usual day to day tasks included delights such as learning how to treat third degree burns, rather than how to apply makeup and beauty products.  Then again, the Cold War we know and love wouldn't be the same without a little lunacy, so of course a Civil Defence beauty pageant was held! 1962 saw the launch of the first Civil Defence Personality Girl Contest, organised by the North West Regional Division of the voluntary nuclear preparedness group. 23 local corps held heats at their local headquarters, with the victorious ladies heading ...