There was a chance to explore a nuclear bunker last weekend.
The now de-commissioned Royal Observer Corps Bunker at Holbeach was opened last weekend by its custodial owners Heritage Lincolnshire.
The bunker built in the early 1960s to withstand a nuclear blast in the cold war era was in use up until the Corps’ stand down in 1991.
Had a nuclear attack taken place this bunker would have been home to three members from the United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation who would have plotted bomb drops and radiation clouds that would have been a threat to the population in the area.
The bunker, equipped at the time with state of the art equipment, would have provided important information to the regional government that would have assumed power at the time.
Information from these bunkers would enable sirens to be sounded in the areas affected and fallout maroons fired to warn the public.
The bunker open day hosted by Lincs Heritage had many visitors that were treated to a look into the monitoring room by ex Chief Observer Dave Hagen. A video currently on YouTube ‘The Holbeach Bunker’ describes the role of the ROC and a new video is being made for release early next year featuring staff who were trained to man the bunkers throughout the country.
