My first thought on finding today’s photograph in our files was that the ladder on the right would never have passed today’s Health and Safety regulations. You can just see it sliding away from the van roof.

And the least said about the man sitting on the van roof cleaning the searchlight, the better.

The 1953 caption in the Bolton Evening News read: “Regular firemen of the Lancashire County Fire Brigade, Farnworth Station, are preparing A.F.S. recruiting units for use during the campaign which they are carrying out in the district in an effort to obtain recruits for the Auxiliary Fire Service.”