The Carlisle NAAFI in WW2

The photographs on this Second World War postcard are of the NAAFI at Carlisle, Cumberland (now Cumbria). I have been told the Carlisle NAAFI was situated on Botchergate, at that time one of the main north – south thoroughfares through the city centres.

Although I cannot remember this personally, during the years I was a ballroom dancer – in the 1960s and 1970s - my dance teacher had a dance hall studio on Botchergate, Carlisle. So it is a street I remember reasonably well from that era. Looking at the photographs of the Carlisle NAAFI during WW2 there appears to have been an excellent Ballroom as well as a Games Room, Cafeteria, Lounge and a Tavern. It was evidently a good place for servicemen and women to pass a few short hours with friends.

As far as I can make out from these photographs there are Army Navy and Air Force personnel in the photographs. Interestingly, all the gentlemen leading their ladies around the dance floor in the Ballroom photograph appear to be in RAF uniform! I wonder if the ‘boys in blue’ were more of an attraction to the young ladies of that time….?