When Okeford Fitzpaine Parish Council was quoted £10,000 to clear a blocked waterway, councillors feared it would sink their budget. After several sharp intakes of breath, it was clear the councillors needed to find a Plan B – and quickly – to prevent icy roads this winter.
Councillor Sophie Harvey, a farmer’s daughter full of practical solutions, said, ‘I’m not afraid to get my hands dirty’ – and came up with an alternative option. She asked for volunteers to come and help clear the vegetation. Village resident, and retired civil engineer Roy Parsons gave expert advice on the task needed and two working sessions were organised around the August Bank Holiday weekend. Local farmer Chris Norton, loaned a trailer to dispose of the excess soil.
Would anyone turn up? It was a big ask on a bank holiday weekend, but the parish council was clear that even an hour’s help was welcomed.
On both days, volunteers of all ages turned up to dig and clear the muck and old vegetation from the waterway – everyone from retirees to family pitched in. Some were regular volunteers, others had recently moved in and were eager to meet new people and get involved. By the end of the first morning, significant progress had been made: some people enjoyed the experience so much they came back the following day, joined by new volunteers.
Interesting debris
Soon the team began to find an assortment of rubbish – Lego bricks, old T-shirts, fence posts and even a discarded jumper. But the find of the day went to local resident Colin Keyser, who managed to dig out what appeared to be a rusty old mortar shell from the Second World War. He took it home and called the police: ‘They visited my house,’ he said. ‘They inspected and measured it, declared it safe and I was given the OK to pass it on to the local history group.
‘I began cleaning it up: about 45 minutes later I was busy banging off the rust, wire brushing it and cleaning all the mud out from the inside when the phone rang. It was the police again: “Did I still have the mortar shell?”. When I said I did, they asked me to put it up the far end of the garden … they’d had second thoughts and it may still be live!
‘Two policemen turned up to sit in my garden awaiting an EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) team from the army. The EOD arrived and said they thought it was a training grenade launcher from the Second World War, and had no explosives in now – but they would take it away just to be on the safe side.’
And with that, two police officers, two army bomb disposal officers, and the grenade launcher headed off into the sunset. Local people are hoping that the grenade launcher can be returned at some stage as an exhibit in the village museum.
Borrowed bullets
The volunteers would like to find out more about the item – they are not convinced it is a grenade launcher due to its shape. There’s also the question as to how it got there in the first place. During the Second World War there were ordnance dumps in the area, and the Americans were stationed nearby, so it could have come from any of these places.
There are also local stories about young boys who used to “borrow” bullets to play with, so it may have originated from a mischievous prank.
As for the waterway, it has been successfully cleared to the point that minor repairs can be done, and a contractor can review the area to see what additional remedial work may be required. Councillor Sue Finklaire, who also helped on the day, said: ‘It felt deeply heartening to be surrounded by such generous support from the community, especially from those who had only recently made the village their home.’
