After removing 177 bombs, the children's playground re -opens

Joe Lonsdel

North East and Kumbriya investigation

Steven Parkinson exposed the first of 177 bombs at Scotts Park

The BBC Steven Parkinson stands in the middle of the playground at Scots Park, holding a long rake in one hand and smiles that he is about 40 years old and wearing a white safety helmet and a yellow high-vision jacket. It is behind the items of the play equipment, which are closed from the temporary metal fence. — Steven Parkinson exposed the first of 177 bombs at Scotts Park

For decades, there has been an explosion in the generations of children in the Northernland Park and the playground period, while all were oblivious to a cash of two bombs of world war, who were buried under them. How did the device reach there and no one knew?

Steven Parkinson began work to install new equipment at the Scots Park in Woleer in January, a city surrounded by the Rolling Shawiot Hills.

While he was digging, his eye caught something in the ground that was “slightly suspicious”.

“It was quite a shock because it certainly looked like a bomb, but we didn’t know it was live or anything,” he remembers with a small chakli.

The first two days of digging by Bimstone found so many bombs that the entire park had to be dug

Mark Matheher -e -Children's Park is completely dug with several piles of the Earth and metal fencing around the site. Just a swing stands, a man is digging in front of him. — The first two days of digging by Bimstone found so many bombs that the entire park had to be dug

Steven’s company Woleer Parish Council was in touch with the clerk of Karen Roadors, but the address was equally amazed to the authority.

“Setting up a suspected bomb in a playground is not at all that they cover in the manual of the clerk,” she says with a smile, “but we directly sealed the site.”

Woler councilor Mark Matheher recalls: “It was almost exciting.

“I went to the site and it certainly looked like a bomb, but obviously no one had any idea at that point that we were going to find what we were going to find.”

An explosive Ordnance Settlement Team arrived from Cataric Garrison and confirmed that it was actually a bomb to World War two, but thinking that it was an isolated discovery, renewal resumed the next day.

Until no other device came out.

Karen Rogers knew about No Corporation Manual to direct the bomb disposal

Town clerk Karen Roders is standing in front of the playground. She is smiling and wears a green wool on a lilac top. It is behind the temporary security fence and a wooden building that is like a shed which is only very large and with a long pointed roof. A slide, swings and a climbing areas are at a distance in front of a wooden area. — Karen Rogers knew about No Corporation Manual to direct the bomb disposal

With the work of any building, it is not uncommon to find evidence of previous life and inconsistency, especially in city parks.

Deelan Tan of The Association of Play Industries says he has “bottles of vintage whiskey, railway sleepers, thorny wires, sex toys and a gun, but never bomb” while installing the play equipment.

Today companies usually investigate whether there were “any military or industrial activities on the site”.

They will also scan the excavation tests and cat (cable avoiding equipment), but in the 1980s, when the park was first installed, “health and safety standards were very different”.

“I don’t think anyone has to blame, they were really, really inauspicious.”

Delan can list a host of interesting search at Tan Plapark, but not bombs

Deon Tan Tan Dale Tan is a man in his 30s who are clean with short brown hair and smiling roughly. He is standing in front of a path and over your shoulder you can see a new playground — Delan can list a host of interesting search at Tan Plapark, but not bombs

In Woorler, the decision was taken to call in the brimstone, one of a handful of companies in the UK, which specializes in removing the war -term armament.

Since it was established in 2016, its employees have removed more than 200,000 items from sites across the UK, so Associate Director Adam Tanner says that he has learned “not surprised by anything in this job”.

Brimstone began with “delicate hand digging” around the early pit and over a two -day period, another 90 practice bombs were found that were used to train and drill the bomber crew and pilots.

They were not alive, but made an allegation.

“What we saw is that they were kept evenly and stood in rows,” Adam says. “This was clearly and deliberately.”

Handheld detectors were used to scan the park and a large amount of scrap metal was removed

A white plastic container with a metal ring contains a large amount of waste scrap metal including pipes, horse shoes and metal rings. — Handheld detectors were used to scan the park and a large amount of scrap metal was removed

Brimstone had to spend one and three weeks at Plapark, using a handheld detector to survey the entire site and exposed a large amount of scrap metal with the last clan of 177 bombs.

One theory was that the bombs were buried by the home guard, a British volunteer military organization that was established to defend against a potential German invasion.

But Allen of Glandale Local History Society believes that this may be the work of regular soldiers.

“It was a truly important training field for military and well rescue,” he says.

“2,000 military personnel were deployed in RAF Milfield in the north of Wular alone.”

Local historian Alan Steur says Woler was well defended by a ring of Pilbox and an important training sector for the army

Alan Steur is a person wearing brown trousers with a blue jacket in the 60s. He stands by a pillbox, a solid hexagonal defensive structure from the Second World War where the male could shoot from the enemy. There are some moden houses behind it. — Local historian Alan Steur says Woler was well defended by a ring of Pilbox and an important training sector for the army

Alan is also sure that there was an Ordnance Depot on the site during the war, with the delivery of sages and supply coming through a spur from Alnvik to the Cornhill railway line.

The smaller stretch of the track and depot buildings appears in the 1948 aerial photograph and described in the archives interview with the locals. Matty Fairington and Maurice Hardy who were teenagers during the war.

Woleer’s 1948 image shows military buildings where the plapark was later built

In 1948 supplied a black and white aerial image of Woleer taken with patchwork of homes and roads. Two cylindrical buildings revolve on the left hand side. — Woleer’s 1948 image shows military buildings where the plapark was later built

In the 1981 recording by Glendale Local History Society, the pair discusses their memories of “Loads of Troops and Going and Going” and “A Ordnance Depot” on Scots Park.

“You know the part that is now a playground,” says Maurice Hardy. “It was all closed.”

Matty Fairington said, “There was always a lot of heavy stuff.”

Further evidence of the site’s military use came from researchers from Brimstone who identified the war -made metal structures known as Nissan Huts.

There is almost no mark of RAF Milfield, but 2,000 men and women were deployed in the 1940s.

A air shot of a remote rural area with hills in the William Heartnet distance and a huge expansion of grass by trees in the foreground — There is almost no mark of RAF Milfield, but 2,000 men and women were deployed in the 1940s.

During the conflict, weapons were stocked in large quantities and then disposed of, just a lot of dump in the sea.

David Alexander, Professor of Emergency Planning and Management at University College London, says “Millions of tons of unwanted armaments are unwanted age in 1945” and “health and safety was not present”.

In the period of exhaustion after the war, as Professor Alexander explains: “It is just ‘let’s get rid of it’.

“I mean, the bombs were going for six years.”

Historian Colin Duravard says that there is still a large amount of armament across the country.

Colin Duravard is a person in his 60s who stands in a museum held bombs of another world war era. He has brown hair and mustache and wearing a brown jacket. — Historian Colin Duravard says that there is still a large amount of armament across the country.

Colin Duravard, who runs a set of batteries on the Northerland coast, Belleeth battery, says “when he heard of the buried bombs in the wolar” when he was “not surprised” when he was “not surprised”.

The museum has several exercises bombs that are dug throughout the county.

He says, “Some old soldiers used to tell us stories of burying at the end of war.”

“Nobody wanted things like a 3-inch mortar and thousands, perhaps millions, ammunition.

“It was stuck in the ground, it was a bus ton.”