Safety First

Published July 13, 2018 Updated February 19, 2023

Safety First card game embodying the Kerb Drill, published by John Jaques & Son Ltd, 1940s.

1940 United Kingdom Jaques Safety Videos Wartime Card Games

Learn your kerb drill and help to prevent accidents

Safety First card game embodying the Kerb Drill, published by John Jaques & Son Ltd, early 1940s. 1942 was when the Kerb Drill was introduced. I remember it well. When I first went to school in 1945 we were taught, through play–acting, how to cross a road safely. This was long before the Green Cross Road Man and Tufty. Mind you in our street of 100 houses there were only 2 cars even though you could buy one for a few hundred pounds in those days. See the Rules

Safety First card game embodying the Kerb Drill, published by John Jaques & Son Ltd, early 1940s Safety First card game embodying the Kerb Drill, published by John Jaques & Son Ltd, early 1940s

Above: Safety First card game embodying the Kerb Drill, published by John Jaques & Son Ltd, Whiteheather Works, Whitehorse Road, Thornton Heath, Surrey, early 1940s.

Safety First card game embodying the Kerb Drill, published by John Jaques & Son Ltd, early 1940s
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By Rex Pitts (1940-2021)

Member since January 30, 2009

Rex's main interest was in card games, because, he said, they were cheap and easy to get hold of in his early days of collecting. He is well known for his extensive knowledge of Pepys games and his book is on the bookshelves of many.

His other interest was non-standard playing cards. He also had collections of sheet music, music CDs, models of London buses, London Transport timetables and maps and other objects that intrigued him.

Rex had a chequered career at school. He was expelled twice, on one occasion for smoking! Despite this he trained as a radio engineer and worked for the BBC in the World Service.

Later he moved into sales and worked for a firm that made all kinds of packaging, a job he enjoyed until his retirement. He became an expert on boxes and would always investigate those that held his cards. He could always recognize a box made for Pepys, which were the same as those of Alf Cooke’s Universal Playing Card Company, who printed the card games. This interest changed into an ability to make and mend boxes, which he did with great dexterity. He loved this kind of handicraft work.

His dexterity of hand and eye soon led to his making card games of his own design. He spent hours and hours carefully cutting them out and colouring them by hand.

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