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Remembering the dump

60 years ago on 29 November 1944, during the dark days of the Second World War, an explosion rocked the middle of England. It was the largest ever explosion in UK, and one of the biggest man-made explosions in the world before the A-bomb.

A gypsum mine near the Staffordshire village of Fauld had been converted into an ammunition store. Thousands of tonnes of bombs and other material were stored in the underground tunnels. Yet there was a slack safety culture. Foreman Malcolm Andrews said later that everyone thought: "No, nothing can ever happen here."

At that time in the war, unused bombs would often be dropped by returning planes into soft ground for recovery and repair. Inexplicably, this and other maintenance work was sometimes done within the mine, rather than in an open area.

That day, it happened. It may have been the use of wrong tools for bomb dismantling. The side of the hill was blown away by over 3000 tonnes of explosive, with a noise that was heard in the seaside town of Weston-super-Mare 120 miles away. 70 people died and a farm with many animals vanished. A 500-meter crater opened up.

We can get away with doing things our way for just so long. But there is always a payback.

Remarkably, some people walked out of the mine alive. What protected them?

The surrounding rock! The rock took the punishment of the explosion, and saved them. It's interesting to find that the Christian Bible refers to Jesus as a rock. In Psalm 94, it says, "But the LORD has become my fortress, and my God the rock in whom I take refuge." He is one who can take the punishment we deserve - and also our pain and hurts - and become a protecting wall to us.

 

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