Unlike today, Annual General Meetings used to be held in early September, immediately prior to the season starting. Because of the developing political situation and then the actual outbreak of War on 3 September, no general meeting was called in 1939 and consequently no officers or captains were appointed. Informally, the Committee decided to carry on our playing activities for as long as possible. We continued to have the use of Victoria Park, but work on the construction of the changing accommodation was halted. The materials were stored on-site in expectation that it would "all be over by Christmas" and we could then resume the task. However, long before the War was over the building and materials had disappeared and even the foundations were removed. Building materials became hard to come by and it is suspected that people took them to build air raid shelters for themselves. Reservists, including Lt. Commander Castens and Captain Foss, were called up straight away which left us without a Chairman, an Honorary Secretary or a Fixture Secretary. Sid Duce (left) took over these roles and the duties of the Honorary Treasurer as well - effectively running the club throughout the war years.

In the first year of the War, fixtures did not get underway until November and a further two months were lost after Christmas due to bad weather. We gradually lost players as they were called-up into the services, although we were able to pick up players posted to the military camps in the area. The Old Warwickians more or less suspended their activities for the duration and so we also picked up some useful players from them. Among them was A.R. Billington who was to become President of the Warwickshire RFU from 1972 to 74. We got through the first season, playing 17 games and finished more or less all square. Fixtures were a mixture of traditional opponents, locally based armed forces' sides and whoever else was still playing. In this season we played our first ever fixture against Old Leamingtonians and lost by 0-11. We also played Kenilworth and lost 3-22. The Boxing Day game against Old Warwickians went ahead and we won by 6-0. We managed to field a second XV and they played about seven games up until Christmas, but did not reappear after the bad weather.

We managed only two games in 1940-41. A third game, against Rugby St Andrews was scratched due to lack of numbers and we played them at seven-a-side instead. Four games were played in 1941-42, but things were better in 1942/43 with around 30 players available. Games were switched to Sunday afternoons, because most players had to work on Saturdays. This was not without problems as we had to get permission from the Council to use Victoria Park on the Lords' Day and they were not too keen on the idea. We managed 13 matches, but against a declining pool of opponents - we played Coventry Tech Old Boys three times and a Royal Engineers side four times. The Boxing Day game was won by Old Warwickians, their first success since 1932. After 1942-43 it became impossible to keep things going. The Lockheed factory formed its own side in October 1943 and as they were our main source of players our numbers dwindled even further. To this was added the further blow that our general factotum Sid Duce was moved to Wellingborough and so we lost the man who did most of the work that had been keeping us going. The club was therefore cocooned for the duration of the War and our few remaining players threw their lot in with other clubs, mostly Lockheed. The summary of the wartime games is as follows -

Of the 53 playing members at the start of the war, 32 joined the forces. Some missed, potentially, the best years of their club careers, but 13 of them paid the supreme sacrifice and were killed in action. These were:

R.I.P. - B.A. Batchelor, B. Bishop, E.J.R. Brotherton, S.C. Collett, J.A.J. Davey, T.L. Davies, N.G. Leadley, W.G. Joy, N.J. King, E.E. Peers, K. Scovell, P.D. Strong, D. Williams