Does anyone actually know anyone with a bunker (and a plan to get there)?

[zigzagzigzagz]

I’d just be interested. I don’t think my shed’ll cut the mustard.

I remember a former No 10 director of comms saying they show you where the PM’ll go in the event of emergency stuff (I can’t actually remember if she said nuclear war) and that Cherie Blair had wanted it redecorated. I wonder if Carrie J has asked the same!

We have three very close to us, and one only my husband and a handful of others know/remember about as he worked at Halton House and was part of the group maintaining the underground walkways to the train station from Halton House, which is very near to several bunkers. One I used to play in as a kid, we always joked if there was a Zombie Apocolypse we're heading there!

I live just on the outskirts on the exclusion zone for AWE. If it’s nuclear war I’d like to go immediately please. I read brother in the land as a child.

@CovidCorvid Could your dad have been an ROC volunteer? The “bunker” sounds like a ROC post (they were for people to record and pass on observations about blasts/fallout etc in the first two weeks after a nuclear attack) - en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Observer_Corps_Monitoring_Post

I don't think I'd actually want to survive a nuclear war? Wouldn't that be awful?

@CovidCorvid

There is/was a bunker near us in the middle of the sticks. In the Cold War my dad (who wasnt in the forces and as far as I’m aware wasn’t a spy) had a key for this and in the event of nuclear war (?) would have to go there. He said it was tiny, for two people. I remember being sad he said I wouldn’t be allowed to go!

My dad’s long gone. No idea where the key is or if the bunker is still there…I might go and have a look. 😄

You should go visit the Cold War bunker in York, they do a tour. There used to be people who volunteered, sounds like your dad was one. They have a big map there with all the bunkers in the U.K.

[quote AtomicBlondeRose]@CovidCorvid Could your dad have been an ROC volunteer? The “bunker” sounds like a ROC post (they were for people to record and pass on observations about blasts/fallout etc in the first two weeks after a nuclear attack) - en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Observer_Corps_Monitoring_Post[/quote]
That sounds likely. He said his job if he had to go was record what was happening and pass information on.

@BluerThanRobinsEggs

There used to be one under Berkshire County Hall but it was offices last time I went past - I wonder if it's still usable?

The cellar under Buckinghamshire County hall was used as offices for the (fantastic) Schools Library Services!

I found one the other day in NL that was a holiday let. Can I find the link now...? I was looking for somewhere interesting for DH's big birthday, but discounted that one.

if a group of people managed to get to a safe bunkered you think they would be able to get on with each other, create rules/plans etc so everyone managed to survive

i dont think so

too many people think they know best, not enough have true survival skills.

i will be out on the hills letting it take me. dont want to linger watching sick people get sicker, death destruction and all whats left. no thanks

There's loads in the white cliffs of Dover that were well used during the blitz.

@CovidCorvid

There is/was a bunker near us in the middle of the sticks. In the Cold War my dad (who wasnt in the forces and as far as I’m aware wasn’t a spy) had a key for this and in the event of nuclear war (?) would have to go there. He said it was tiny, for two people. I remember being sad he said I wouldn’t be allowed to go!

My dad’s long gone. No idea where the key is or if the bunker is still there…I might go and have a look. 😄

You definitely need to look into this and also see if the bunker has been documented.

Your father might have been a secret agent, and one of the Cold War equivalents to the auxiliary’s, and would have gone into hiding as part of the resistance.

the-past.com/feature/britains-secret-resistance-plans/

However it’s more likely that he was a civil defence volunteer to the observer corps

coldwar.org.uk/category/civil-defence/

A lot of these are lost to history, and there was a campaign not long ago asking for proper to collate information on old Cold War & WW2 bunkers and defences.

On a different scale there are a few former bunkers such as Corsham etc.
There’s one at Drakelow in the West Midlands that had been a WW2 underground Rolls Royce factory manufacturing aircraft engines which was modified to be a Cold War government bunker. I played a few paintball games there, but it’s closed to games now as the owners have expanded the museum restoration and are looking for other uses to generate income such as secure warehousing.
It was also used by ghost hunters, and while we were setting up equipment for the following days game the shots hunters were walking around other parts of the tunnels - when they got back they were excited about the ghostly calling and groaning that they had picked up, we asked if it had sounded like this & and activated our sound FXs ….

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drakelow_Tunnels

www.drakelow-tunnels.co.uk/

I grew up in rural Staffordshire and lived close to Drakelow tunnels. Tried many times to break in as a teenager. FoUnd some very bizarre things in the woods though. Now privately owned, I think they still offer tours.

@zigzagzigzagz

I’d just be interested. I don’t think my shed’ll cut the mustard.

I remember a former No 10 director of comms saying they show you where the PM’ll go in the event of emergency stuff (I can’t actually remember if she said nuclear war) and that Cherie Blair had wanted it redecorated. I wonder if Carrie J has asked the same!

Why do you think it cost so much for Carrie to decorate the flat?

“There’s only one thing worse than dying in a nuclear war and that is surviving it”

I visited a decommissioned nuclear bunker and it was pretty grim in there to spend the rest of your life.

My BIL has one i think- he was building it a few years ago.
He's a bit/lot of a prepper. when i heard his plans I decided that dying in whatever crisis was happening was a better option than living with him

Well if you are in the North West we have Stockport Air raid Shelters. It's now a tourist attraction

I'd prefer not to survive being nuked.

I'm not sure I could ever get in one. I think I'd be too anxious. My nana refused to go into the shelter one day during the war and it saved her life. The bunker was hit and sadly everybody inside died.

Why? Why start a fear mongering thread like this?

AllThingsServeTheBeam - yes it does.
I used to work at the Civic offices.

Why do you think it cost so much for Carrie to decorate the flat?

I hope she hasn’t gone for the same wallpaper as in the flat.

Anyone watched 10 Cloverfield Lane? If you do you won’t be so keen on the Bunker idea.

I was in the ATC in Norfolk and we used to visit the ROC bunkers on a regular basis, our boss was friendly with the people who manned them. They also used to run cracking airplane recognition comps.

I have an under stairs cupboard. Currently full with Christmas decorations and tree, plus the hoover.

I don't really get what the plan is for after the supplies in the bunker run out though?

What happens when bunker inhabitants emerge into the wasteland - is it not just a slower way of dying as the water will be contaminated, crops won't grow etc?

What if the spiders and cockroaches mutate from the radiation?

Basically everything would be a bit shit, no?

I think only real Pollyanna types with relentless optimism would be able to make a go of things in the aftermath.