Bomb Disposal

It was certainly an explosive evening at Senlac St Leonards Rotary meeting on 30thOctober. Speaker, Peter Wheeler, a former Royal Engineer and now an Unexploded Ordinance Device (UOD) Engineer, talked about the massive range of explosive devices that have been manufactured and many of which lay hidden beneath the ground or the seas. He even brought along a bomb, an incendiary device and remnants of devices that had been unearthed, fortunately all unarmed. Having spent 40 years as a bomb disposal expert he now oversees new building developments to help assess the risk of UODs being present; it is estimated that some 10 per cent of dropped bombs failed to detonate and many have yet to be found. Peter also spoke of the 1914-18 military camp near where the Cooden beach Golf Club is sited which, apart from British troops also housed South African and other nation troops.