MEMBERS of the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service have been helping people in need for more than 70 years.

They played a major role in public life in wartime and have continued to do so in peacetime.

This picture was taken at a meeting in 1956 when 650 delegates gathered at Oxford Town Hall to hear their founder and chairman, Lady Reading.

She said the movement consisted of “women of various sizes” and was based on “the faithfulness of many, not the genius of the few”.

She added: “You are the largest single organisation looking after old people in the whole world. You do not ask for recognition – you ask for the privilege to serve.”

Lady Reading founded the Women’s Voluntary Service, as it was then called, in 1938 with a simple motto – “if the job needed doing, it was done”. One of the first tasks was to organise first aid courses in cities thought to be likely targets for the German Luftwaffe if war broke out.

During the war, volunteers helped with the evacuation of 1.5 million civilians, mostly children, from towns and cities, collected clothing for the needy, handed out food, drink and warm clothes to troops evacuated from Dunkirk, and ran mobile canteens and helped bomb victims during the Blitz.

They also organised fund-raising campaigns such as Salute the Soldier and Warship Week and provided support for troops and civilians.

After the war, volunteers concentrated on helping isolated and lonely people, particularly the elderly.

The meals on wheels service became very popular. Other initiatives include good neighbour schemes, community transport and hospital shops and cafes.

Emergency teams were also formed to help with major incidents such as the flooding in 2007.

The WVS became the Women’s Royal Voluntary Service in 1966 when the Queen gave permission for ‘Royal’ to be added to its title.

In 2004, the name was changed to WRVS to modernise its image and to reflect the fact that a number of its 60,000 volunteers were men.