Bonkers bid for a secret bunker.

Byline: By Louise Redvers

A mystery bidder has stumped up a fortune for a piece of Cold War history.

The former underground nuclear bunker at Stannington was put up for sale on an internet auction ten days ago and fetched a price of pounds 14,100.

The fortress was built in 1961 and staffed by Royal Observers Corps volunteers whose job was to pick up nuclear bursts and monitor fall-out during the Cold War.

But 30 years later in 1991, with the threat of nuclear attack no longer imminent and the Cold War over, the monitoring room was sealed up.

Now, to mark the bunker's sale, former Royal Observer Corps comrades got together to reminisce about the old days and have a drink in their old local The Ridley Arms, in Stannington, near Morpeth, Northumberland.

Ralph King, 56, from Longhirst, Northumberland, grew up near the shelter, which started life as a watch post in World War Two.

"When I was younger, I always used to wonder what was going on and why these people were going in and out of this secret place," he said.

"I wanted to get involved in things in the Cold War, but was too old to join the TA by then, so I put my name forward.

"We were basically waiting for the data to picked up on radar as an attack was expected from Russia.

"Nothing like that ever happened though, but you made good friends doing it."

Brian Oliver, 63, from Ponteland, joined the Royal Observer Corps aged 16, and served for nearly 35 years, becoming Stannington's chief observer. Civil defence runs in his family and he was inspired to join by his father, Robert, who had manned the post during World War Two and received a medal for his work.

Brian, now retired from the pharmaceutical industry, said: "We had a good sense of comradeship and felt it was a very worthwhile job. If it had come to the conflict of a third world war then we felt that we could do something to help."

But despite their memories, neither are sure why anyone would want to buy what they think is an underground garage.

Brian said: "There is a lot of history, but it's unbelievable that people are going to pay so much."

Ralph added: "I think there's a bit of Dad's Army nostalgia about it all, then there's the secret element to it because none of the shelters are marked on maps, so they are technically not there."