# Air Raid (or possibly Flood?) warning sirens



## Lightbuoy

Popped along to Walton-on-the-Naze on the train the other weekend, and saw these near the Police Station..................























I'd be interested to know if the are old Air Raid sirens, or if flood warning ones, were they originally for air raids? Chaars!

Lb


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## Reaperman

Its almost definate they were orignally air raid sirens, There a standard type Ive seen identical versions on asylum water towers. weather they had another use is more difficult to say, Certainly in some parts of the country sirens are still used. EG those at Broadmoor to warn the locals of escapes!


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## Lightbuoy

Reaperman said:


> Its almost definate they were orignally air raid sirens, There a standard type Ive seen identical versions on asylum water towers. weather they had another use is more difficult to say, Certainly in some parts of the country sirens are still used. EG those at Broadmoor to warn the locals of escapes!



Ahh, thanks for that Reaps 
Never knew that they had some on Asylums Water Towers (but it kind of makes sense) no need to build separate legs and the higher the better!
Have heard about those sirens at Broadmoor (see below link for more info)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A7414292

Lb


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## Foxylady

That's a really interesting piece of history about Broadmoor. A bit of the 'wow' factor there (and a shiver thrown in! ).
When I was a girl there was an occasional siren sounding where I lived, which was used whenever one of the local Borstal Boys went walkabout. I don't ever remember seeing the sirens, though. Thanks for the pics, Lb. A nice bit of info.

Foxy


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## krela

Places with chemical refineries still use them too, like stockport and avonmouth, to warn if there are chemical leaks.


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## Pete

Lightbuoy said:


> Ahh, thanks for that Reaps
> Never knew that they had some on Asylums Water Towers (but it kind of makes sense) no need to build separate legs and the higher the better!
> Have heard about those sirens at Broadmoor (see below link for more info)
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A7414292
> 
> Lb



The 'asylum' ones are more likely to have been hang-overs from the war and retained as fire alarms. As i understand, patients in local mental hospitals would understandably not be considered as being necessary for sirens etc. Like Broadmoor, Rampton (another special hospital) was also well known for its sirens which sounded when an inmate escaped.


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## Lightbuoy

Thanks for that Pete 
Fire alarms eh? I reckon that some high / low piched wailing noise would freak the Patients out more than the fire itself though!!! 

Lb


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## Richard Davies

I remember hearing a siren like an air raid one a few times when visiting a friend who lived on Mill Brow, near Glossop. 

I've never found out where it was from, I don't think there were any quarries or anything else needing one near by.


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## Newage

Just to add another twist to the idea, I could be a siren from a cold war civil defence bunker/network, there is some mention of them on the subbrit web site.

There was one in Wroughton up until the early 1990`s when it was taken down, there is also an ROC post on the old RAF Wroughton air field now part of the science museum

Cheers Newage


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## Rob

Flood warning sirens. There are loads in lincolnshire.
From the essex flood plan 2002:
Flood Warning Sirens – There are 36 Tidal Flood Warning Sirens which are positioned in the coastal areas most likely to be affected (see Annex D, Section III). The warning is given by FIVE THIRTY SECOND SOUNDINGS AT FIFTEEN SECOND INTERVALS. (Activated by ECC, see Annex F, Section III)

TIDAL FLOOD WARNINGS
SIREN LOCATIONS
TENDRING DISTRICT COUNCIL
HARWICH POLICE STATION
PARKESTON QUAY HAMILTON HOUSE
WALTON ON NAZE CAR PARK
JAYWICK SANDS MIDWAY
JAYWICK FROBISHER DRIVE
JAYWICK LION POINT
ST. OSYTH POINT CLEAR
BRIGHTLINGSEA FIRE STATION
COLCHESTER BOROUGH COUNCIL
WEST MERSEA FIRE STATION
WIVENHOE FIRE STATION
WIVENHOE PHILLIP ROAD
MALDON DISTRICT COUNCIL
HEYBRIDGE ECC H/WAYS DEPOT
MAYLANDSEA NIPSELLS CHASE
ST LAWRENCE BAY ST LAWRENCE DRIVE
BURNHAM ON CROUCH POLICE STATION
BURNHAM ON CROUCH CLOCK TOWER
SOUTHMINSTER POLICE STATION
TILLINGHAM FIRE STATION
TOLLESBURY RECREATION GRND
CHELMSFORD BOROUGH COUNCIL
S.W.F FIRE STATION
S.W.F TELEPHONE EX.
S.W.F GLADDEN FIELDS
ROCHFORD DISTRICT COUNCIL
FOULNESS ISLAND TREE FARM, COURTSEND
HULLBRIDGE RECREATION GROUND
CASTLE POINT BOROUGH COUNCIL
SOUTH BENFLEET POLICE STATION
CANVEY ISLAND CANVEY ROAD
CANVEY ISLAND NORTHWICK PARK SCHOOL
CANVEY ISLAND FIRE STATION
CANVEY ISLAND POPLAR ROAD
CANVEY ISLAND MAURICE ROAD
CANVEY ISLAND RATTWICK DRIVE
CANVEY ISLAND NEWLANDS ROAD
CANVEY ISLAND CLIMMEN ROAD
CANVEY ISLAND PLAYING FIELD
(OFF STATION PARADE)
THURROCK BOROUGH COUNCIL
TILBURY OLD FIRE STATION
GRAYS ORSETT ROAD

http://www.essexcc.gov.uk/vip8/ecc/ECCWebsite/content/binaries/documents/Floodplan_2002_final.pdf

Hope this helps

Rob...


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## krela

Interesting, cheers, rob.


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## Lightbuoy

Thanks a lot Rob -makes a good read does that! 

Lb


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## lost

This is on top of the Whittingham water tower, it looks almost identical apart from the colour scheme.


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## Lightbuoy

Thanks for that pic Lost 
I am impressed -climbing to the top of a water tower is an acheivement in itself -so finding an old siren must be like the cherry on top!! 
This confirms what Reaps said earlier. Thanks again.

Lb


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## saul_son

It is, as stated earlier, more than likely to be from the Cold War period. The siren would have sounded by the local Carrier Control Point (CCP) located at a Police Station normally. The alert to sound the siren, the dreaded "Attack Warning RED" would have came from the UKWMO National Wartime HQ in Preston, via the Handel and WB 400/600/1400 Carrier network. 

There was one on top of the old Police Station at the top of my road up until around 1993 and there is still one in Hale near Altrincham.


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## Lightbuoy

saul_son said:


> It is, as stated earlier, more than likely to be from the Cold War period. The siren would have sounded by the local Carrier Control Point (CCP) located at a Police Station normally. The alert to sound the siren, the dreaded "Attack Warning RED" would have came from the UKWMO National Wartime HQ in Preston, via the Handel and WB 400/600/1400 Carrier network.
> 
> There was one on top of the old Police Station at the top of my road up until around 1993 and there is still one in Hale near Altrincham.



Very interesting Saul Son. What you said makes sense -the one pictured is just up the road from the Police Station. Thanks for the info buddy 

Lb


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## Reaperman

saul_son said:


> It is, as stated earlier, more than likely to be from the Cold War period. The siren would have sounded by the local Carrier Control Point (CCP) located at a Police Station normally. The alert to sound the siren, the dreaded "Attack Warning RED" would have came from the UKWMO National Wartime HQ in Preston, via the Handel and WB 400/600/1400 Carrier network.



what makes you think they are cold war? surely its more likely they were installed in WW2 and kept on to warn of nuclear strikes?


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## krela

Reaperman said:


> what makes you think they are cold war? surely its more likely they were installed in WW2 and kept on to warn of nuclear strikes?



Unlikely given that WW2 air raid sirens were hand driven by local ARPs not electronic...

http://www.northants.police.uk/museum_new/exhibits/11/siren.htm

The ones commonly seen in these photos are all cold war era.


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## Reaperman

krela said:


> Unlikely given that WW2 air raid sirens were hand driven by local ARPs not electronic...
> 
> http://www.northants.police.uk/museum_new/exhibits/11/siren.htm
> 
> The ones commonly seen in these photos are all cold war era.



I thought that both types were in use in WW2, Though I'm not an expert. Though come to think of it electronic ones may I suppose have been vulnrable to damage of the electricity system.


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## Foxylady

Quote from the link given by Krela:

"By turning the handle, special "horns" inside the machine with air-holes in them were caused to rotate at great speed, thus creating a deafening wailing noise..."

That's interesting. When I was a kid, the siren was used for Borstal escapees and whenever we heard it my parents used to call it 'The Bull'. Is that because of the sound it made or because it had horns inside, I wonder? 
That was a genuine question, btw, not a funny! 
Great sound effect on that link, too.

Foxy


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## krela

Foxylady said:


> Great sound effect on that link, too.



It's a scary horrible sound that will always send shivers down my spine. 

Nothing good can ever come from that sound.


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## King Al

I recall my school had an old hand powered one in their drama department, I doubt it had any official use but it was a full size one and was bloody loud, it had a detachable handle that the staff kept in the office, naturally after lots of careful planning and the fact that the teachers left the door open we let it blow out the cobwebs… got suspended for 2 days for that one but my mate who did the _majority _of the cranking got 5 days

That was fun and got two days off school


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## Richard Davies

They were often known as Moaning Minnies in WW2.


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## saul_son

Reaperman said:


> what makes you think they are cold war? surely its more likely they were installed in WW2 and kept on to warn of nuclear strikes?



They probably were, but they would have been serviced and maintained for the Cold War role. Many were replaced sirens though, like the one in Hale for instance, that sits atop a modern steel pole yet the design hasn't changed. There were many hand operated syrens employed by the ROC during the Cold War too, evident by the number of empty boxes found in ROC posts.


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## Rob

Sorry to drag this thread back out but I just came across this on youtube:

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wIJ1D96ArI&mode=related&search=[/ame]


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## Foxylady

Rob said:


> Sorry to drag this thread back out but I just came across this on youtube:
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wIJ1D96ArI&mode=related&search=



Did you check out some of the other sirens, such as the tornado warning from the US? Some quite eerie sounds there! 

Cheers


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## stevejd

When I was student at Rauceby, they still used the old RAF Rauceby air raid siren as a fire alarm, only time it "freaked" the patients out was when it went off at 3 am (and me living in the nurses home) Heard stories of people new to the area thinking it was the escape alarm and dragging there kids in for safety.

One point though, on my first day we were given instruction about the link to the civil defence early warning network. there was a direct link to the system until it was shut down, so I suppose it was the town's nuclear attack warning siren too


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## graybags

If i'm at home at 1130 in the morning, I hear this sound as it is still used by the Dockyard (Devonport)
G


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## Simon

This video shows the WWII sirens:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9i1QAtET0ok&feature=related[/ame]

I always thought the WWII sirens were kept after the war and hooked up to the early warning system. But they definintely pre-date the Cold War.

A friend of mine has got one. It runs on three-phase so he couldn't just plug it in at home. So, when he did an electrical course and discovered the local college had three-phase, he (or rather him and a couple of mates) lugged it down there. His course teacher thought it would be rather fun to run it up...

Big mistake. 

All the best,
Simon


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## King Al

Did the OAP population of the town disappear for a week


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## stevejd

Simon said:


> I always thought the WWII siren definintely peyre-date the Cold War.
> 
> A friend of mine has got one. It runs on three-phase so he couldn't just plug it in at home. So, when he did an electrical course and discovered the local college had three-phase, he (or rather him and a couple of mates) lugged it down there. His course teacher thought it would be rather fun to run it up...
> 
> Big mistake.
> 
> All the best,
> Simon



That I would have liked to see, I bet their expressions were a picture 

I recall that our switch board had one of these located next to the manual alarm control 


It provided the link to the network. Have a look here for more info 
http://www.subbrit.org.uk/rsg/features/cold_war_early_warning_system/index.html
I think it was disconnected around 1990 ish


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## King Al

the amount of stuff you can dig out on that site is amazing


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## Twiggy9999

I used to work in Wokingham, and every Monday at 10 in the morning we could hear the wailing as they tested the alarm at Broadmoor.

I've also heard it at Ashworth when I worked up in Merseyside.

It's one of the most eerie sounds you can hear and scares the willies out of me!


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## Foxylady

Twiggy9999 said:


> It's one of the most eerie sounds you can hear and scares the willies out of me!



Heehee! Know what you mean!


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## stevejd

I lived in married quarters at Rauceby and this little bugger was 100yards outside of my bedroom window, 






not what I'd want for an alarm clock, it was great in the summer when the midges used to get in the smoke detectors, used to go off several times a night


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## Wishmaster

I believe there is a siren of some sort at Fletchers Paper Mill, to warn of chemical leaks I think, although I havent seen it personally, its on the roof somewhere I believe.


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## holymole

*sirens at Greaves Hall, Banks, Lancashire 1970's*

I lived in Banks in the 1970's and my mum was a nurse at Greaves Hall. The Sirens used to go off regularly (sounding like typical air-raid sirens) and she said it went off when a patient had escaped from the hospital. I Remember it vividly as it was a secure psychiatric hospital and the types of patients there were supposed to be, quote.. 'dangerous' - anyway, I can say my childhood was peppered with the sound of airraid sirens although i was born in the 70's............ chilling stuff though at the time


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## Mr Sam

on top of the water tower at RAF Newton


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## mike50001

i live near a chemical works, an they have sirens for if theres a leak.

usually test it every year or so, but had a real "incident" a couple years back, had the locals moaning for weeks


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## magmo

saul_son said:


> It is, as stated earlier, more than likely to be from the Cold War period. The siren would have sounded by the local Carrier Control Point (CCP) located at a Police Station normally. The alert to sound the siren, the dreaded "Attack Warning RED" would have came from the UKWMO National Wartime HQ in Preston, via the Handel and WB 400/600/1400 Carrier network.
> 
> There was one on top of the old Police Station at the top of my road up until around 1993 and there is still one in Hale near Altrincham.



If the siren was in an area likly to flood the WB1400 could also remotly activate it to sound a flood warning which was diferent sound from an atack warning.


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## magmo

I have just got back from Clacton today. I was at Jaywik and saw exactly the same... same structure and everything it was just before you get to the Martello beach holiday site on the right in a small compound next to a modern day transformer so it would be fairly recent and was on land below high tide level so I would presume it is part of the flood warning system along that part of the coast.


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## Zero

Reaperman said:


> EG those at Broadmoor to warn the locals of escapes!




Thats awesome nfo cheers


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## Stormhawk

They've got one at Ratcliffe On Soar power station in Leicestershire. It went off while I was on a group visit there with work about two years ago and it scared me to death. The tour guides were going on about how they test it every week because anything can happen - including terrorist attacks - but this was not a test. We were all huddled together in the middle of the car park next to our minibus waiting for the order to jump in and get out of there. It lasted about 15 minutes, turned out to be a false alarm and we carried on with the tour.


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## marked-man

lost said:


> This is on top of the Whittingham water tower, it looks almost identical apart from the colour scheme.



The water tower at Whittingham is a very late build in the scheme of asylum water towers, the asylum opening in 1873 relied on reservoirs for its water and the water tower is not on the 1938 OS Map so maybe a wartime or post war construction . The siren could be either for a modern war,but it was used to for fire drills.


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## stevejd

we had one of those at Rauceby, started out as RAF air raid siren when it was RAF Rauceby in WW2, then doubled up as a fire alarm (bloody noisy one) and a cold war alert for Sleaford nearby although newbies to area believed it was the escape alarm


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## cstevens

Lightbuoy said:


> Ahh, thanks for that Reaps
> Never knew that they had some on Asylums Water Towers (but it kind of makes sense) no need to build separate legs and the higher the better!
> Have heard about those sirens at Broadmoor (see below link for more info)
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A7414292
> 
> Lb




I remember that siren when I used to visit my Grandad near there - I now remember my Grandard telling me what it was for, but had forgotten until reading this - thanks for the macarb memory.


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## Bax__

Before the time of Pagers the Fire Service used these to alert the Retained/Part-time firemen that there was a fire. They also doubled to alert the public Air-Raids this moved on to a Nuclear Attacks as well. You used to find them on the roff of most country fire stations...

I remember as a kid after my grandfather got his first pager from the fire brigade the siren going off and I was under the impression WWIII had started...They were only doing the annual test to make sure it was working okay


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## Lightbuoy

Good bit of info there Bax -Thanks  It seems that there were quite a few uses for these sirens!

Lb:jimlad:


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## Pegasus2

They were testing them in Selby about three months ago. I will have a wander and see if I can find the siren.


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## Lightbuoy

Pegasus2 said:


> They were testing them in Selby about three months ago. I will have a wander and see if I can find the siren.



Cheers matey. Let us know how ya get on 

Lb:jimlad:


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## Anthillmob74

hope no one minds me dragging this to the top again, i was going to make a post about air raid sirens but thought id do a search first.

i remember when i was a kid, about 8 years old, you could see the old sirens perched atop poles around the town i live in. there are none around anymore.

during the mid to late 80s for some reason the sirens went off when they shouldnt have when i was at school one day. the teachers went into a complete panic and made us hide under our desks. cannot for the life of me find anything on google about it but i know its been discussed on the boards of friends reunited for that school.

my mum was brought up in tooting and remembers hearing the wail of the siren that was situated at tooting bec asylum signalling an escapee, as did my ex's mum who lived in coulsdon and often used to hear the wail coming from cane hill.


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## Engineer

*Sirens.*

As said previously they were very common and in use for works time signals in the 50s & 60s.
Mill I worked at still has one for the main fire alarm.


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## Lishyy.

Where I live, there is an oil refinery close by and atleast once a week i hear a siren like an air raid siren being tested, my grandma tells me its the old air raid siren and once when there was an explosion i heard it going off for quite a while.


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## LiamCH

A couple of years ago I was in Lewisham, south London and I noticed an air raid siren mounted on a pole. It looked as though it might have last been painted in the 1980's or so.


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## zimbob

This li'l fella lives on top of the village hall in Cawdor, near nothing much of note, apart from a Distillery, and the former RAF Brackla, which I believe was shut directly after WW2...


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## penance

krela said:


> Unlikely given that WW2 air raid sirens were hand driven by local ARPs not electronic...
> 
> http://www.northants.police.uk/museum_new/exhibits/11/siren.htm
> 
> The ones commonly seen in these photos are all cold war era.



Sorry, not so. ARPs did use hand sirens for local warning in more rural areas.
The majority of cities and towns were equiped with the electric powered carter air raid siren, as pictured earlier in the thread.
The carter sirens were introduced around '37-38 and are the well known air raid wail from WW2.
many were kept and pushed back into service during the cold war years.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9i1QAtET0ok[/ame]


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## Cuban B.

I was going into the derelict part of an asylum one night and just as I away to go inside an air raid siren went off! It scared the life out of me and made me run for cover as the thought of coming across an escaping knife wielding maniac patient runs through your mind. Probably just testing the fire alarm though.


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## jonney

I live in Willington in County Durham and as a kid we used to play in the old WW2 cold storage buildings (now long gone sadly) and they had an air raid siren on the top (same type as in the first pictures) which back in the early 80's used to be tested twice a year. That was until we discovered the power was still on and the location of the siren switch, then it used to get tested every couple of weeks by us (quick down the ladders, off the roof,across the railway platform and into the bushes before the police arrived). I never really thought about it being cold war as the old guy who lived next to us worked there during the war once told me that it regularly used to go off when he was at work and they all had to march off into the air raid shelter in the buildings cellars. Now I think about it though it makes sense that they would need to test them to make sure they were still working as back then the threat of a nuclear strike from the Russians was very real


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## Andy__B

Was on a caravan holiday in Hunstanton a few years ago and the siren next to the campsite went off - boy was it loud, totally unexpected and quite frankly disturbing. Apparently, this was used to warn of potential strong tidal surge along the coast there - scene of much loss of life along the East Coast in the great floods of 1953.. 

I don't think it's there anymore?


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