Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Moray bomb hunt unearths two bullets

Mother Helen Oakley with Rohan, left, and Becky Leech, with William, right, at Pinefield Play Area.
Mother Helen Oakley with Rohan, left, and Becky Leech, with William, right, at Pinefield Play Area.

Anxious parents have spoken of their relief after a search for unexploded weapons under their children’s play park drew a blank.

Moray Council called a team of bomb disposal experts to the land at Elgin’s Pinefield Crescent after learning more about its history as the site of a World War II barracks.

However, the fears of local families were short-lived as the experts recovered just two practice bullets dating from 1943 – along with various other items of metal – during Monday’s hunt.

The investigation was prompted after wartime aerial photographs of the site indicated a series of defensive trenches, which would have been used for training purposes.

As the ordnance survey team explored the area with metal detectors and digging equipment, several parents refused to let their children play near the green.

Speaking from the park yesterday, two mums, who stay next to the play area, welcomed the news that the findings had proved less than spectacular.

Becky Leech said: “We are relieved it’s clear and very glad the bullets have been removed by Moray Council.

The mothers now feel it is safe to take their children back to the park
The mothers now feel it is safe to take their children back to the park

“It’s a relatively quiet area, but I didn’t know a lot about the history of it.

“There are quite a lot of kids around. They use this area a lot, so well done to the council.”

Helen Oakley added: “The park is always full, especially in the summer, so it’s good they checked it.”

A council spokesman said: “While the likelihood of encountering unexploded ordnance at this site was considered to be relatively low, we required the survey to give us confidence that there were no ordnance related items at a depth that people could encounter.

“We hope that this will give the residents assurance regarding the level of risk as a result of the area’s historic military use.”

A similar survey was carried out in the playing field of West End primary school last year – and again no explosives were found.