The History of Ruddington Depot
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Post War Changes
Dealing with unwanted materials and equipment
The end of the war and the closure of the filling factory meant that some of the materials in stock would never be needed, and much of the equipment held in store was surplus to requirements. Some of the empty buildings began to be filled with goods from other military establishments which were damaged, decayed and of no further use. Two methods were used to get rid of this growing mountain of unwanted articles. They were either burnt or buried. A burning ground was set up on the flanks of Fowemer Hill, well away from all the buildings, and every day at 4 pm there was a great conflagration as piles of accumulated debris and rubbish were burned. Bernard Slack described what happened.
“They brought cordite in and piled it up, and set it all alight with other things. There was a massive glowing in the sky and reports of it being seen miles away. People wrote to the press with lots of different ideas about what was causing it.”
A huge pit was dug alongside Asher Lane and broken equipment, crashed vehicles, worn out clothing and other useless articles were thrown into it. The local population protested vigorously with letters to the local press, councillors and MPs. To people who had been urged to “Make Do and Mend”, and who were still coping with austerity shortages and rationing such wanton destruction was outrageous. Jack Abbot is of the opinion that local opposition caused a change in policy.
“People were complaining about Rolls Royce’s and everything being smashed to smithereens (as they crashed into the pit). That’s what started the sales at that particular time.”
The Story > Chapter 5 > Section 5.14