Goodbye Air Raid Shelter

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It is with a heavy heart that we have bid farewell to the WWII Anderson Air Raid Shelter this weekend.

 Sadly, when we dug right down to the ground level the front panel with the door opening was rusty and had rotted right through to one side giving it a very sharp and dangerous looking edge - not good for cats or children.  

 Previous occupants had at some point used the shelter as a rubbish dump and then set fire to the items that had been stuffed inside.

Most of our time at weekends over the last few months has been spent digging out the clay soil all around the shelter to its sunken floor level (about 6 foot).  We have also removing layers of sandy soil and concrete slabs from its roof to reach the thick corrugated steel and huge bolt fixtures across the top.  This has been really hard work and quite challenging due the shelters positioning and depth in the soil.
These things really were built to last!
These are some of the items we have found inside:
A printer
A computer screen
A rotary washing line
A child's pushchair
A tent and poles
Lots of bricks and bits of glass
Glass bottles and cans
Tins of paint
And lots of soil

After trying various dismantling methods we have invested in a hand-held Angle Grinder as the picture above begins to show.  
Almost there
Using the Angle Grinder we have been able to cut the top and sides off the Shelter in small sections - it is a bit like opening a giant Sardine Tin without a tin opener.  The sections are incredibly heavy even for us two carrying them together.
Buffy enjoying a new hiding place beneath one of the roof panels
I feel the need for another Skip hire approaching really soon.

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