Air Raid Shelter – Progress Report

Members of the Society along with Sophie Harman, Heritage Project Manager from The Environment Trust, embarked on the first stage of work towards restoring the Air Raid Shelter. On 6th May we removed the items left in the shelter over the years by the maintenance staff from the flats. These items included 8 heavy doors, around 80 iron pipes and nuts and bolts, many glass sheets, old chairs and stools, paint cans.
We used a team of volunteers to carry the rubbish up from the shelter and to a lorry to transport to the refuse tip. The lorry and Geoff, the driver/helper were supplied free to the project by the 0800 Handyman service based at 246 Upper Richmond Road (www.0800handyman.co.uk)

It was essential to get the shelter cleared as the stored timber items were breeding an infestation of furniture beetle which threatened the remaining original timber fittings. The shelter is also to be opened for open house weekend on September 20th from 1-5pm – please come along and see the shelter for yourself.

The next step in the process for the shelter is to apply for funding to enable conservation work to be carried out so the shelter can be preserved and appreciated by future generations as an educational resource. Keep an eye out on the website for any future events and updates on the project.