Nuclear Bunker

Clambering tentatively down the shaft, clanking on the metal runged ladder on my own into the dark, I was more concerned about banging the camera than dropping into the gloom below. Then, standing in pitch black underground, 2 things spookily flitted across my mind: 'No-one knows I'm here and if the guide has psychopathic tendencies and shuts the shaft lid .......' ( must say I do have a few issues with that) and secondly, 'Hope they don't have any life-size, life-like dummies in the dark down here, when I take the shot through the door!' Well he didn't and they didn't - happily for me!

Built in 1960 during the Cold War during the Cuban Missile Crisis where they were on stand-by and used till 1991 this nuclear bunker was manned by Royal Observer Corps volunteers, both men and women, as were 1,653 others over the country. Standing 274m away from Broadway Tower, dug down 6m, manned by 4 people for 3 week stints. Linked with 2 other bunkers in Inkberrow and Bidford, initially they were on the lookout for enemy aircraft in WWII. I manned the siren turning the handle valiantly and wondered actually in the event of an attack how far that sound would travel..not very far it transpired.

The instruments in the bunker measured with the FSM (fixed survey meter) the level of radioactivity, a pin-hole camera to capture the nuclear flash on a photographic plate to find out where it had fallen and a BPI (bomb power indicator) the white round face,on the wall on the left. They all sound very efficient but the upshot of the whole exercise was that if the attack had happened for real they would not have survived as dealing with the instruments meant exposing themselves to radiation fall out through various means. I was staggered at how primitive the methods were. One man had to stand holding a brush handle for 24 hours pushing the instrument out of the bunker, so in the event of an attack the contamination would have got in there, as it would have done with the ventilation ducts and seals for the other bits and pieces. They would have been sacrificing themselves; then again everything for miles around would have gone too.

To amuse themselves in that awful hole down there they played draughts, drew amusing cartoon books, played darts and there was a girlie calendar but I never got to see Miss December who I was told was a trifle risqué!

I have to say it is well worth going for a really interesting visit giving a flavour of the Cold War and as it was very quiet today I got my own personal tour guide, a very nice young man :) who did keep me on my toes with questions to see if I'd remembered the spiel!!!! Taken in the gloom without a flash I think the camera did a surprisingly valiant job.