SCI, of which IVS is a branch, was set up by Swiss engineer and pacifist
Pierre Cérésole in the aftermath of
World War I. It organised European workcamps in which volunteers from different countries came together to reconstruct war or disaster damaged sites in a spirit of peace. In 1931 SCI sent a team of international volunteers to the Welsh colliery town of
Brynmawr, which was hard-hit by unemployment. The
Quakers, joined by student organisations, had started
relief work in Brymawr in 1929. The SCI team of 37 international volunteers helped build a public park, including outdoor swimming pool and paddling pool, alongside British volunteers and local men and women, during the summer of 1931. That same year saw the foundation of the International Voluntary Service for Peace (IVSP), the British branch of SCI, with Cérésole as president and Jean Inebuit, a Swiss school-teacher working in
Leeds, as secretary. The first
annual general meeting (AGM) was held in Leeds in October 1934 and a constitution was approved at the AGM the following year. During the
Spanish Civil War, IVSP sent a team of volunteers to a farm at
Puigcerdà, near the French frontier, to produce food for children's colonies in the area. The project had to close when the Spanish government ordered foreigners to leave the border area. There were further projects in Britain in the 1930s, including the building of a football pitch and playground in
Forge Side in South Wales, work on allotment gardens in
Woodchurch, Merseyside, construction of a cesspit for the
Cotswold Bruderhof and construction of a playground and garden in
Gateshead-on-Tyne. Local unemployed people often worked alongside the volunteers on projects. IVSP also helped in the conversion of houses into hostels for the
Youth Hostels Association. During the summer of 1939, IVSP volunteers worked on a Quaker-run project to convert
Carclew House in Cornwall into a reception centre for refugees. The outbreak of
World War II in September 1939 made it impossible for IVSP to continue with international volunteering. Later that year the British government recognised IVSP work as an alternative to military service for
conscientious objectors. IVSP volunteers did planting for the
Forestry Commission in
Hawkshead, Kershope and
Kielder Forest. The Forestry Commission paid the men's wages to IVSP who provided board and lodging and pocket money to the workers and used the surplus to fund more projects. Other war-time projects included: aid to the Emergency Feeding Department in the borough of
West Ham in east London; renovation of a hostel for war refugees in
Market Rasen; a demolition service to clear bomb-damaged sites in
Croydon and
West Ham; and agricultural work in
Whitehaven and
Clows Top. A youth service was established to run harvest and fruit-picking camps for young people, including refugees, under the age of 18. In February 1944 IVSP, under the auspices of the Council of British Societies for Relief Abroad, sent a unit of 12 volunteers to Egypt to work in refugee camps, and in December 1944 the unit was sent to join relief efforts in Greece. Another unit went to
Italy and a third unit to
Crete. Teams were also sent to carry out relief work in
The Netherlands and
Germany from April 1945. In the immediate aftermath of the war, British IVSP volunteers continued with demolition work in West Ham, worked on Youth Hostels, built a summer camp for boys at
Great Bardfield, Essex, and carried out work for the
National Trust clearing ground at
Polesden Lacey in Surrey. The organisation gradually resumed its international character, with a mutual exchange of volunteers from other European countries. ==Recent history and current work==