Arthur Riches was called up for the militia in 1938. In 1940 he refused military service. He was sentenced to a year in prison. When a bomb damaged part of a prison warders' house, Arthur was sent there to do repairs (he was a plasterer by trade). After each day's work he used to return to the prison and knock the prison gate to ask, "please may I come in?" Arthur joined Tottenham Quakers in 1945.