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June 2022 June 2022

presenting their findings to me at a
BERE REGIS HISTORY SOCIETY
later session. I am also in the
process of working with Bere Regis
Primary School to create some
artwork for an informative trail to Cold War Bere Regis
follow at Wild Woodbury. We are Whilst the so-called "Cold War" lasted from about 1946
h o p i n g t o d i s p e l s o m e until 1989, there was very little concrete evidence at our
misconceptions about ‘weeds’, to very peaceful part of the world. There was just one very concrete example of the
show people that they are mood of the times. On Woodbury Hill there was a Royal Observer Corps
incredible for wildlife and that we underground bunker on the flat summit of this hill. There were extensive views in all
should be viewing them as directions, and it was said that it was built on the same spot that the ROC used
important pieces in the complex during WW2 to report on German bomber formations making their way to targets
ecological jigsaw. such as Sherborne, Yeovil, Bristol, from their bases in Northern France. The bunker
There will be plenty more was built in the 1950s but by the 1970s its role had been replaced by more
happening over the coming months at Wild Woodbury. As ever, if you wish to get advance forms of observation. The derelict bunker was a popular place for us
in touch, please do drop me a message at the below address! boys to explore after cycling there on our bicycles. The photograph is of a similar
bunker in a nearby parish that was still intact in the 1980s.
Seb Haggett, Wilder Dorset Community Ranger,
Shaggett@dorsetwildlifetrust.org.uk The purpose of the
bunker was to give
triangulation of nuclear
blasts in the UK, by the
use of a vertically-
extending mast which
a
four-points
had
Dorset Property Care d e t e c t o r o f
Allan Slater photographic film, which
Based in Briantspuddle after the attack was to
 Services be retracted and the
on
black
marks
the
 Building maintenance photographic-paper's
 General joinery position telephoned
back to HQ, so that the
 Garden maintenance positions could be
Main room in underground bunker
 Garden landscaping determined.
 Kitchens The 1962 Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty was passed unanimously to ban above-
 Man and digger hire ground nuclear testing because by then it had been shown that it was affecting
the gender ratio of births in all countries. By then the ratio of boy births had risen
 Waste carrier licence
from the normal 52% to about 60%, which also shows in the Bere Regis Parish
Records!
07973 158092
John Pitfield, Projects Secretary
allan@dorsetpropertycare.co.uk
www.dorsetpropertycare.co.uk

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