Ed looks back at a time when we were prepared for war

I have had an interest in this subject for many years since I was at school when I joined the Royal Observer Corps/Civil Defence. At this time I saw the Cadets as being a rather outdated and useless organisation.

My time in the Royal Observer Corps gave me some understanding of how Britain intended to survive a nuclear conflict. Matters were going to be directed by a number of Regional Seats of Government. Some of these have been given over to other uses. One of these is in East Kilbride near the Zoo.

In Clydesdale, many of the buildings that were provided for use in the event of a war were considered redundant in the post Glasnost era, despite Mrs Thatcher’s prophetic warning that the post Cold War era would be the most challenging for the World.

The first to go was the large hangar building in Carluke which was used to repair aircraft in World War II. Post 1945 this stored the Green Goddess fire engines deployable in event of a major catastrophe.

These were useless as technology quickly moved on. However they were dusted down and put on standby in the early 1980s at the time of a national fireman’s strike.

The next Cold War building to go was over a decade ago when the large black building in Hyndford Road was demolished and replaced by a Clydesdale Housing Association scheme. This building contained dried food like biscuits which would be distributed to the local population in event of a war. At one time there were literally tons of provisions stored here.

The Hyndford Road building was used as a store for drink and other items but the growth of supermarkets eventually spelled the end of small drink stores. The building was then sold and eventually the flats were built.

What is left? First BT communications system which are designed to function in event of a war. The picture of one such building near Carstairs Junction shows what they look like. I was taking a group of people around looking at Carstairs and Carstairs Junction several years ago. At that point it was being used and that has been confirmed by several BT engineers.

There are a number of Observer Corps bunkers of which the best known is the one near the Tinto Tea Room. This has been decommissioned but in event of conflict this would be manned by several officers who would be provided with equipment to measure nuclear fallout. This would be obtained from Prestwick!

The situation regarding Civil Defense in Clydesdale is no worse than the majority of the UK and could be best described as chaotic. We were better equipped to face Hitler than any threats since 1945.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​