Nearly two years before the war started, the Air Raid Precautions Act 1937 made local authorities responsible for “ARP” which stood for Air Raid Precautions.  The town’s ARP control centre was installed in the Town Hall’s specially reinforced basement.  This was also made gas proof and protected by 3,500 sandbags stacked against the outside walls.

On the roof of the Town Hall was the air raid siren, installed a full seven months before war started in Feb 1939.  It was tested on the first Monday of every month at 10am.  Local residents said the siren could be clearly heard from as far away as Hambleden and Shiplake.   The air raid siren, known locally as “Moaning Minnie”, raised the alarm more than 260 times during the war.

The big upper room in the Town Hall was used for dances, but not on Sundays. The hall was also used for military training. It was also used for boxing matches, drill and gymnastics, and there were fears of damage, and even that the hall might be shaken to pieces.

When the American Army arrived in mid-1941 the American flag was run up and down a flag staff next to the Town Hall every day by the Town Sergeant.  In the big upper room, electric fans were fitted to the windows to keep the air moving, and special ‘down lighting’ was installed above the stage to spotlight the bands hired in to provide the jazz music American servicemen expected.

At the end of the war the Town Hall had huge American and Soviet Union flags proudly displayed on either side of the entrance.  A tribute to their contribution to Victory in Europe, and, quite possibly, to the joy, candy, nylons and new music the Americans brought to Henley.