What is Mary wearing?

[Sandra Parker]

Wearing her daughter's greatcoat is a possibility, but it wouldn't explain the totally different headwear. The badges are not even similar. The other thing is that Mary appears younger than other photos of her in 1939/40 (she died in 1942), so maybe it was earlier than the known 1939 of Ivy's picture.
I have contacted the Fire Service to see if they can tell me about the date of use of the hat badge. Will probably have to wait a while for the answer.
Thank you all for the Fire Service clue, I would never had thought of that myself.
Sandra

[sharki]

In the early part of the war, with the rapid expansion of the fire services, initially there were not enough uniforms for everyone. Post Office uniforms were issued to some members of the AFS/NFS on a temporary basis. This may account for the different headgear. Women were also recruited into the fire services to man mobile canteens which may explain why Mary is not in full uniform. Obviously a hat and coat would be essential, but in a canteen perhaps, ordinary civilian dress was acceptable at that time.
Women also served as drivers and communications personnel as well as fire watchers.

[mmm45]

On reflection that could be a bike tyre pump? In her hand

[bleckie]

Hi

What is in her hand is an old water spray.

It was used for putting out incendiaries, it works like a syringe I remember it as my father had one in the sixties and he used it in his garden for spraying plants he used to mix his fertiliser in a bucket suck it up in the spray push the plunger and the fertiliser would spray out the nozzle at the front. From memory it covered a fair old distance.

Yours Aye
BruceL

Yours Aye
BruceL

[Sandra Parker]

Just when I was seriously thinking about bicycle pump, up comes another more viable thought.
I had been looking at old biciycle pumps on line and although they are very similar, they seem to be a lot shorter than the one Mary is holding and the nozzle bit seems different. The water spray idea is much more in keeping with the uniform.
My thanks to you both for your suggestions. It does point to Mary wearing the uniform in her own right, rather than 'dressing up' in part of her daughter's.
Sandra