The newspaper notice to residents of Weymouth and Melcombe Regis that was published on 21 August, 1940, read in part, “The corporation will have available within the next few days a number of Anderson Air Raid Shelters and applications are invited therefore from householders resident within the Borough.”
The dark days of the Blitz loomed, and residents of Great Britain were advised by their government to prepare appropriate shelters in advance of the destruction sure to be wrought by the Luftwaffe. Preparations had actually begun well before the outbreak of World War II in September 1939. A year earlier then-Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain had placed Lord Privy Seal Sir John Anderson in charge of Air Raid Precautions, and the prominent civilian shelter that soon emerged was named for him.