Greenham Common Airbase

Good day out, met up with some friends and we all headed down to Berkshire with the aim of seeing the old Grenham common airbase which was headline news through alot of the 80's with the Women's Peace camps due to the storage of cruise missiles.
There is not a great deal left apart from the huge GAMA silo's where the war heads were kept, although these are impressive enough. Most of the runway has been cleared althought the control tower remains with plans to convert it into a visitor centre. The whole site is marked as a Sheduled Ancient Monument

Security is still tight, well that said there are still 3 perimiter  fences which are well maintained and one of which is around 15 foot tall and then scrub land containing Adders to get through, one of which we spotted which makes gaining access a little fun.. but worth it

Some of the GAMA silo's history is here..

Once more a massive new construction was undertaken as the GAMA (GLCM Alert and Maintenance Area) site was built in the southwest corner of the base. GAMA was a maximum security QRA (Quick Reaction Alert) area with 6 large above ground shelters in which fully operational cruise missiles were stored.

Each shelter contained 2 LCC Launch Control Centers and 4 TEL transporter erector launchers. Each unit was mobile and supposed to leave the base in convoys to their secret preset dispersal sites. This would happen within minutes after the alert and the movement was via the local roads through the surrounding villages.These shelters were specially designed and constructed to protect the GLCMs and crews against nuclear and conventional strikes. They were about 10 m high, with a reinforced 2 m thick concrete ceiling. Below was a massive titanium plate, 3 m of sand and a reinforced concrete plate. The shelters were completely covered with tons of clay. Each shelter was equipped with three hydraulic nuclear blast proof doors at both ends to assure a quick entry or exit. They were designed to withstand the blast of an air-bursting nuclear explosion above the base or a direct hit from a 2,500 lb (1,100 kg) conventional bomb.

Wiki page here ....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Greenham_Common

Cheltenham CSO - Visit 2

For some strange reason we felt the need to head back to Cheltenham towns own little Cathedral of shit with a few friends... just a few shots from that day...for some weird reason the lights were on but were off when we went before...

CSO - combined Sewer overflow. Basically a place where it can back up if the storm water and sewage gets too much, unfortuanatly this then flows into the river Chelt when this gets too much

Full Set here

http://s692.photobucket.com/albums/vv289/fearsofthedark/CSO%20-%20Cheltenham%20-%2010th%20April%202010/1280x1024/?albumview=slideshow

Clipstone Colliery

This was a crack, first of two visits to see the head stocks and lower buildings . No underground action left as it has been backfilled but more than enough to keep you busy for the day. We didn't get time to head up them so the plan was to go back and do it again. We did go back one night but Pikeys on site smashing stuff up put us off so another visit is still on the cards for the view from the top.

Its a bit of a contrast the site, most of the generator room is utterly destroyed but the winding gear hall was still very intact and al the control rooms still fairly complete. Their is a long running battle, some people want them torn down as they are a symbol of past times and others want to keep them as a tourist attraction... 

Some History from Wiki...

Clipstone Colliery is a coal mine situated near the village of the same name on the edge of an area of Nottinghamshire known as “The Dukeries” because of the number of stately homes in the area. The colliery was owned by the Bolsover Colliery Company and passed to the National Coal Board in 1947.
The colliery was sunk to exploit the Barnsley seam or “Tophard”, as it known locally. In the 1950’s the shafts were deepened to over 1000 yards (920 m) to exploit other seams.

The colliery was closed by British Coal, as the National Coal Board had become, in 1993 and reopened by RJB Mining (now UK Coal) in April 1994, the licence to dig for coal being limited to the Yard seam which is located at a depth of 957 yards (870 m). The colliery was finally closed in April 2003.

The headstocks of the colliery are regarded as the tallest in Europe and the third tallest in the world. They are Grade 2 Listed structures and can be seen all over the district. They are expensive to keep in good repair and there have been a number of appeals, as yet to no avail, to demolish them. But however the clipstone headstocks are nearly demolished now and no one knows what will happen in the future.

Few Pictures..