Stirrup pumps

Every house that possessed a stirrup pump had a large 'SP' notice on the gate. One member of the NFS was decorated. Harry Clarke, whose family owned the Clarke factories, he was an officer in the National Fire Service as well as managing the company.

"This entailed working very long hours - especially during the blitz on Birmingham. Coventry and other Midlands towns. Harry was spending ten hours a day at the factory and anything up to twelve hours per night on National Fire Service duties. During these periods Edna (his wife) would see him for about an hour in the evening and an hour in the morning when he came home from the fire station, or from one of the blitz areas, for breakfast and to change back into his "civvy" clothes and get back to the factory. In 1946 Harry was awarded the Defence Medal for his service during the war years"

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