A F S & REST CENTRE SERVICE INFORMATION PLEASE

[billy4294]

Good afternoon,
I would be grateful if anyone could provide me with information relating to the A.F.S and Rest Centre Service badges I have posted here, which are both less common examples of each badge.
The A.F.S badge is a small red enamelled (I've seen one in blue enamel) button hole, of the style used by the A.R.P. I think this may be an earlier issue badge, which was discontinued when the A.F.S. began to expand, possibly because the more common type badges were cheaper and easier to produce? Would I be correct in my assumption? or is it just a case of the badge being too small for easy recognition?
The Rest Centre badge is the less common black enamel centre version. I have many different ideas as to why the enamel is black, instead of the usual blue, on this variation, a couple of which are; a different manufacturer, that didn't produce many badges. But why would they get the colour of the centre wrong? when they should have had clear requirements for the badge design or; there was only one maker of rest centre badges, and the black enamel variant was issued to supervisors/mangers? to denote their position, in the same way that the Metropolitan Special Constabulary used coloured enamal on the crown of their badges to denote sgt or inspector, which might explain why the black centre is less common.
All information most welcome.
Thanks
billyh

[Postwarden]

Both these badges have little known about them.

The AFS version with both red and blue ground was unofficial as there was no AFS equivalent to the large silver ARP badge and they could be bought privately rather than it being an issue.

The same goes for the rest centre badge. Again unofficial and bought privately - although it is possible that, given the comparatively large numbers that exist, certain local authorities may have bought them and issued them to their Rest Centre Staff.

Jon

[billy4294]

Thanks Jon
billyh