The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Gimme shelter...
Dundee couple Kevin and Mary Findlay enjoying their Anderson air raid shelter. Gayle Ritchie has been trawling Courier Country to find more of the Second World War relics. Picture: Mhairi Edwards.
We’ve often sat in here with friends and family when it’s night-time or raining and had a little drink or a coffee.
MARY FINDLAY
Air raid shelters dating from the Second World War lay neglected for decades, now they’re a highly desirable garden accessory. Gayle Ritchie dons her tin helmet to track down some in Dundee and finds a perfect hideaway for an evening tipple – or a family get-together
With their rusting, corrugated iron panels crudely bolted together, Anderson shelters are regarded by some people as ugly edifices but they are now selling for four-figure sums.
Around three million corrugated iron Anderson shelters were erected across Britain during the Second World War and are iconic symbols of the conflict.
Designed to protect families from bomb blasts, they were dug into back gardens and now survive as storage sheds, playhouses or relaxing spaces.
Officially called the “sectional steel shelter”, the structures were universally referred to as Andersons, after Sir John Anderson, the architect of air raid protection before the war and the first wartime home secretary.
The corrugated-steel arched shelters were delivered in sections and had to be erected by the householder, partly buried in a hole up to 4ft deep, then covered with soil.
Remarkably bomb proof – unless suffering a direct hit – a standard shelter could accommodate six people but was cramped, draughty and tended to flood after rain.
The first shelters issued were in Islington, London, on February 28 1939 and people in Dundee had to wait until August that year to get one.
The shelters cost £7 but were supplied free of charge to people earning less than £5 a week in danger zones.
After the war, councils closed all public and communal air raid shelters, with demolition happening over the next few years.
Those wanting to keep a shelter, or sell it as scrap metal, were charged £1, around £35 in today’s money.
There were thought to have been 2,031 shelters in back greens and open spaces in Dundee and most of these were probably Anderson shelters.
Fairy lights dangle from the roof and a fire pumps out heat from one end of the brightly painted Anderson shelter on Dundee’s Tullideph Road.
It’s a peaceful and attractive space in which Kevin and Mary Findlay relax with a drink of an evening.
The couple inherited the shelter when they moved into their house in 2015.
Then, it was a damp, rusty, rather ugly structure which stood forlornly at the bottom of their garden.
Now, painted bright red and boasting a table, chairs and a chiminea, it is a hideaway haven.
“It was a right, filthy mess when we moved in – all tired and rusty,” said Kevin, 59.
“The shelter had been painted brown and the paint was all peeling off.”
The couple got rid of the wooden ends and saved the bottom of the shelter, which was rusting, by embedding it in concrete and spraying a waterproof layer on it.
Kevin, a health and safety adviser, suspects the shelter was used as a coal shed at one point because the ground, which is made of bricks, was black.
“We initially thought it was a bit of an eyesore but understood it was a piece of history and were glad it hadn’t just been dumped,” he said.
“Now we’ve done it all up, we love to sit there with a wee drink in front of the fire.”
Mary, 58, says the shelter is “just perfect” for the Scottish climate.
“We’ve often sat in here with friends and family when it’s night-time or raining and had a little drink or a coffee.
“It’s very easy to maintain – we just sweep it out now and again.
“If we’d kept it the way it was, with the enclosed sides which were all rotten, it would’ve been a bit of a dark, damp space.
“But we’ve kept the basic structure and we enjoy it. We painted it a nice bright red colour and made it a bit of a feature.
“These shelters each have a stamp and a number inside, so there’s a wee bit of history there.
“They’re quite rare, so it’s no surprise to hear folk are selling them for around £1,000.”
Partially submerged and encased in a stone wall, Jackie Mckay’s Anderson shelter is an attractive garden feature.
“We moved here in 2004 and the shelter is pretty much as it was back then,” she said.
“We don’t want to get rid of it – it’s a piece of history. We don’t really use it for much, other than to store a few things, but we plan to tidy it up and do a few repairs over the summer.”
Jackie’s shelter, in Dundee’s Seymour Street, has a wall erected around it which she assumes was put up in 1939 – the same year the house was built.
It works to camouflage and strengthen the shelter, with wildflowers and plants taking root in the cracks and crevices.
Ashley Keay has an Anderson shelter in her garden in Dundee’s Noran Avenue, a big one, designed to accommodate 12 people.
These structures were produced at a later date, to allow more people to take refuge.
The paint on Ashley’s shelter was flaking off when she moved there in 2013, so she commissioned a friend to give it a makeover.
“My friend sanded it, primed it and painted it green and it instantly looked much better.
“These days, I use it as my garden shed and to store things like bikes and furniture.”