It’s a Secret!
Posted by Sharon on October 2nd, 2008
Today, I took 12 Higher History pupils to the Secret Bunker near St Andrews. The Secret Bunker was originally built as a radar station, but by 1958, it was being used as a regional seat of government staffed by the Civil Defence Corps. In 1968, at the height of the Cold War tensions, the site at Troywood was turned into the Regional Government HQ bunker. It was refurbished and opened to the public in 1994.Inside the bunker visitors can experience various aspects of bunker life to get a real sense of what it would have been like to have lived and worked underground and encased by three metres of concrete. Pupils were especially amazed to learn about the ‘hot beds’ system where the workers would have to share their bed with their colleagues on a work rota basis. In addition, we were given an audio/visual guide which gave us an insight into the sounds of the warning alarms as well as what they would have heard inside the bunker had a nuclear bomb hit three miles away.
The pupils’ behaviour was examplary. Our guide even complimented them on their excellent behaviour stating that they were a credit to Knox Academy.
I really want to thank the staff at the bunker for their excellent communication and organisation. I was given all the information I needed and we were made to feel extremely welcome during our visit. I would encourage anyone thinking about visiting the Secret Bunker to go, it really is worth it!
In addition, I would like to thank George McFarlane for driving us to the bunker.
November 22nd, 2008 at 9:00 am
Your secret really amazed me.How these people managed all this withefficient timing.