An Army bomb disposal team was called to Berrow last night (Wednesday) to deal with a new SECOND explosives incident in the area.
Police and a bomb disposal team were called to Berrow’s Roseneath Avenue, as pictured here, where a resident had dialled 999 to report her concern about several wartime ordnance items that she had been given for a history exhibition.
Talking to Burnham-On-Sea.com, resident June Hill explained: “Our Berrow and Brean Residents Association is holding a WW1 commemoration exhibition in November and we have asked local people to lend us historical items from that era to be put on display.”
“One local resident had a rummage around for us and surprised us all by bringing in two large wartime shells which were in very good condition and which had been passed around her family for decades.”
“I mentioned them to our group’s members and one person said they might actually still be live and should really be checked out.”
June added: “After getting advice from a friend in Burnham on Wednesday afternoon, I dialled 999 and spoke to the Police who immediately sent two officers. They confirmed that they were in fact intact wartime anti-aircraft rounds and the army’s bomb disposal team was called.”
“Their officers carried out several tests on the devices and the Police told me they were confirmed as Pom-Pom anti-aircraft rounds and were still potentially quite dangerous.”
“The Police said they didn’t know if they were still live or not, but they remained a danger and so were taken away for safe disposal.”
June added: “It is a great shame – they were due to take pride of place at our exhbition in November. Fortunately, we will still have plenty of other historical items on show in their place and the exhibition will go ahead at Berrow Village Hall on 10th November from 10am-4pm.”
In a separate and unrelated incident earlier in the week, Burnham-On-Sea.com reported that a large cache of unexploded munitions was found in a Burnham-On-Sea garden and was safely detonated on Berrow beach by the same bomb disposal team.