‘I went down the Perimo on my bike last night, Sir.........’

The sun is shining and the first BBQ of the year beckons (late this year) – so I have fought of the temptation to produce another rant type blog! That may well appear in the next few days – there is much to make me angry! But for today, pleasanter things.

My first classroom - near to the 'Depot'!

I began my  teaching career in the village where I now live some 43 years ago. In those days of the late sixties the world seemed a much simpler place – and, certainly, schools and teaching were  very different  propositions to what they are today. My first class – it was an all boys junior school housed in the original 1870 'Board School' building on the Village Green -  had 43 ten year olds in it. There was a huge range of ability – from some outstandingly bright boys (I still have absolutely no doubts it was, in terms of ability, the brightest class I ever taught) to boys who really struggled. Many of the boys were from very old established village families, others the sons of professional people – especially lecturers at the near-by teacher training college. It was just the same picture at the village’s Junior Girls’ School where my wife to be also started her teaching career. Quite a few of those children that we taught are still village residents and now middle aged themselves – one of them is our painter and decorator another is the village builder. I suppose all villages are like this.

The 'Perimo' 

When I began teaching in the September of 1968 I quickly began to learn the 'language' of the boys. They played on the 'rec' (short for 'recreation ground'), They went down 'the lines' – the railway track that lead to the recently redundant village railway station – closed under the Beeching  axe  of the 60s . They went to 'fifty steps' – a bridge over the railway line that had fifty steps – 25 on each side – and lead to an area of woodlands and streams – a great adventure playground. It took me many weeks to work out and find out about these places  to understand what they were telling me when I asked what they had done over the weekend. But of all the places one that figured largest was 'the depot' and 'the perimeter'. – or 'perimo' as they called it.  Many of the boys had parents who worked at 'the depot' and the encircling 'perimeter road' was where they would ride their bikes at high speed -  a private road around 'the depot' where there was generally little traffic.

Inside the Depot

From the air

The 'Depot' lay on the edge of the village -  a huge area but, in fact, not very obvious. From the main road pretty invisible because of high trees  and accessible only via the 'perimeter' a road with a private road sign. The long, perfectly straight road was a military road and along its side ran the fence of the depot – high and topped with barbed wire. Very intimidating. Inside could be glimpsed rambling buildings, aircraft type hangars and the like. A set of double gates were always closed with men on guard. Whenever one walked past nothing seemed to be happening. No-one ever prevented the use by the public of the private perimeter road but the depot itself always looked slightly daunting and mysterious. Obviously people worked there – many of the boys' parents did -   but it was rare to see anyone inside apart for the security staff on the gate. The depot itself covered a vast area – to walk all the way round the perimeter road was a walk of several miles – it was an ideal place for someone to learn to drive – dead straight and with no other traffic and it was not unusual to see any number of learner drivers taking their first jerking drives along the road!

Government  'sale' adverts

 But once every few weeks the Depot – and indeed the village came to life. I  noticed this when I had been teaching about a month. The school lay on the road which lead to the Depot and one day I suddenly realised that this normally quiet toad was very busy – lorries, vans, cars and the like constantly rumbled past my classroom. This went on for several days and then all returned to quietness again. In the morning they were going in the direction of the depot and later in the day came back. What was going on? Of course, the boys soon told me – the Depot was having a sale! As the lorries and trucks rumbled past in the late afternoon it was very obvious – military equipment – army jeeps, great camouflaged items of unknown use and who knows what else was lying in the back of vans and lorries. The depot was an Ordinance Depot and had been so since the early years of the 2^nd World War. Residents of the village had had no idea of the government plans - they were kept secret - but in December 1940 the plans were not secret anymore and an area south of the village  was levelled off & destroyed forever. Initially between 60,000 & 100,000 people were employed in the building process. Over 200 buildings were erected along with roads, paths & a branch line to Ruddington railway station. The local people could only speculate exactly what the site was going to be used for but consequences of war could not be ignored & acceptance set in for what was going to be a permanent fixture for nearly 41 years.

'Wanna buy a lorry?'

The site was divided into two parts, one used as the munitions factory & the other used to store supplies. Both areas were separated by fencing which also ran around the perimeter of the site. With its two underground reservoirs, a heating plant, a sewage plant, several generators  a telephone exchange two canteens, a surgery, a laundry, a bakery and a mortuary the depot was almost completely self sufficient. . The whole site employed several thousand people and  was under tight security with security staff working 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Inside the depot today - the
Rushcliffe Country Park

At the end of the war the site was decommissioned and from that date used for auctioning redundant ex-military vehicles & equipment. It finally closed in 1983.  The auctions were known nationally & were held every eight weeks. Each auction lasted about a week & were so popular that they were advertised in the national press & dealers came from all over the country. It was often said  that you could buy anything from a tank to 50 million razor blades – all ex-government stock!

needs no explaining!

After the site closed the area seemed to lay redundant. I well remember this period – we had recently come to live in the village and had a dog and two small children. It was a popular walk with the dog to go round the perimeter – still surrounded by the high wire fence but to all intents and purposes unused. A kind of ghostly relic. And perhaps because of the air of mystery it was not unusual for stories to begin to circulate. At the height of the cold war when demonstrations such as those at Greenham Common were taking place there was a local concern as to exactly what the government might be ‘hiding’ at the depot. Although to all intents and purposes closed and derelict – was it? Or were cruise missiles and the like being stored there? All perhaps fanciful but none the less of local concern and myths circulated. Indeed, even when the site was eventually demolished there was the lingering suspicion that something nasty might still be lurking in the underground storage facilities! 

The 'Perimo' today and the
railway crossing where
Thomas the Tank Engine chugs
 each weekend!

What was less fanciful occurred in 1984 just after the depot finally closed its doors. This was the period of the miners’ strike against the Thatcher government and Nottinghamshire was a focal point in the dispute. Although Ruddington itself was not a mining village and was some way from those villages, which are largely in north Nottinghamshire, the depot was used to provide a base for the large numbers of police who were drafted into the area. I well remember at that time going for our regular Friday night drink in one of the local village pubs – usually a  quiet event – but for the period of the strike the village pubs were inundated with policemen from all over the country – especially the Met in London. Loud, aggressive, high on testosterone and alcohol. Loudly proclaiming how much money they were making 'on overtime' with the dispute and how they were going to knock sense into the miners the day afterwards. It was for me a bit of a turning point – I had until then been pretty 'middle of the road' but it suddenly made me realise that overall politics, politicians, the police and government are a pretty nasty combination.

The children's playground

But then in the early 90’s all changed. The decision was at last taken to dispose of the old Depot and to turn the whole area into a country park – the Rushcliffe Country Park. Work began in 1989 and the park was finally completed in 1993 at a cost of £3.5 million. It is a vast  open parkland  space covering approximately 210 acres.  The old Depot buildings were reduced to rubble and the rubble used to landscape the site. Almost 140,000 trees were planted & a 70,000 cu. metre lake created. Some areas were raised to provide a sense of rolling countryside. Several miles of paths, a car park, a railway heritage centre a wooded area, a children’s playground, a study centre, wood sculptures, a habitat to encourage a range of wildlife and a near-by business park.

The swan family - rulers of the lake

The lake which is, I suppose the centre piece of the Park, is a haven for wild life – huge carp lurk beneath its surface and fishing is strictly forbidden. The edges are filled with a vast selection of ducks, moor hens and other water fowl. In the middle of the lake are tiny 'islands' where it is common to see birds sitting. On one of these a cormorant is often clearly visible standing like a statue, his wings outstretched as he dries them in the sun. Occasionally a heron might be spotted also standing perfectly still waiting for some movement on the surface heralding the sign of a small fish dinner! A family of swans have made the lake their home for many years and each year new families of cygnets are guided up and down the lake. They are clearly 'the rulers' of the lake - monarchs of all they survey. Indeed one of the memories that we have concerns the swans. We were walking around the lake on day when a dog jumped into the water. He swam out towards the swans and would take no notice of his owners’ calls to return. As he got nearer the swans the pen shepherded the cygnets away but the cob turned to face the dog who was by now well out of his depth. The cob did nothing until the dog approached. The poor dog was by now tired and, I guess, completely disorientated and the swan calmly swam up to him and forced the dog’s head under water - clearly intent on drowning this threat to his family. Crowds on the bank watched in horror. The dog’s owners were, of course, distraught. As the dog bobbed to the surface the cob backed off. Again the dog approached – low in the water, clearly exhausted and again it was forced under by the swan. When it emerged again the dog - I think by pure chance – found itself facing away from the swans and began to paddle in the opposite direction. Fortunately this was in the direction of the bank and the horrified owners. It was several minutes later before a very bedraggled dog, clearly exhausted and distressed, shambled up onto the bank. Its owners quickly put on its lead! Many parts of the Park are 'lead free' areas – around the lake is not one of them and the owners should have known better. I suspect they would not make the same error again.

In the bleak mid winter -
the frozen lake

 

The Country Park has, without a doubt, changed the face of the village. Instead of the forbidding old Depot we have a bright, 'useful' and enjoyable Country Park from which not only villagers benefit  but also people from a very wide area. Special events are regularly held – charity marathons and the like – indeed as I walked to my newsagents this morning the village was filled with road signs directing visitors to a 'special event' being held at the Park – a 'Rush4health Day'  to promote a healthy life style within the  Rushcliffe area. As I sit in my back garden this afternoon writing this blog I can vaguely hear in the distance an announcer speaking through a loud speaker to the people at the 'Rush4health Day' and every few minutes I can hear the sound of a steam train chugging along blowing its whistle – clearly the visitors are enjoying 'Thomas the Tank Engine' at the Heritage Railway! Many hundreds, perhaps thousands will be enjoying a day out.

Below the waters
huge carp lurk

The railway line and sidings
in the old depot - still in use by
 the Heritage Railway

It is easy to criticise government and local authorities such as Nottinghamshire County Council – indeed, I do it with great regularity and increasing venom. But in this case, Notts County Council, Rushcliffe Borough Council and the village’s own Parish Council have much to be proud of. But above all this the staff who work the country park are superb  -  it is rare for my wife and I not to make some comment as we walk around about some new wood sculpture, some thoughtful planting, the way that different areas of the park have a different 'feel'. Indeed this morning, as we walked we commented that a piece of fencing that had lain unfinished for a few days had been nicely finished off.  A new path had been laid and the fencing was obviously the last piece of the 'jig saw' – and this morning it was complete – and this is one of the joys – the Park is so well maintained by its staff, many of whom are volunteers.

One of the wonderful wood sculptures

For me one of the 'beauties' of the Park is that it is uncommercialised. There is a small refreshment kiosk near the children’s playground which seems to be open at the weekend and where an ice cream or a cup of tea can be purchased but there are no burger bars or gift shops or amusement arcades and the like – it is simply a place to come and enjoy for what it is.    In some areas you might be in some remote part of the countryside miles from anywhere and surrounded by tall grasses, but within a few minutes’ walk you might see a great stretch of open  parkland in front of you filled with Sunday afternoon visitors many of whom have brought garden chairs and a picnic! The list is endless – and that is probably its reason for success – there is something for everyone. A young family can come to enjoy the playground, look at the swans, play football on the grass and it doesn’t cost a thing unless they decide to splash out and buy  an ice cream. Equally, the dog walker can enjoy a quiet stroll and the serious walker has plenty of opportunities to stretch his or her limbs and stride out all day if they wish. For my wife and I, we can set off from our home and have  a 'short walk' around what we call 'the bottom path' and cover about a mile and a half and be back home for coffee in half an hour – as we did this morning. Or, if we are feeling fit we can go 'round the loop' and past the lake and over the railways lines –and come back rather exhausted having covered about three miles. Or, if we are feeling supremely fit (not so often these days!) we can go down the railway lines as well and this will mean a walk of about four miles by the time we get home. And we can do it in high summer or on Christmas Day – all for free! So much more useful and less intimidating than the old, ghostly 'Depot' – and in my book certainly much more use to mankind than a munitions dump! A few weeks ago we walked through the Park and over the railway bridge. We gazed down on the lines and sidings. In the distance were the railway sheds and the rolling stock, now used and maintained by the Heritage Railway Trust and manned by local enthusiasts. This branch line had been built to service the original war time Depot and it suddenly made me realise how easy it would have been for the military to transport anything in or out of the Depot without anyone knowing both during and after the war. The cynic and conspiracy theorist in me reflected on how little we know of what might go on under our very noses. Perhaps cruise missiles did indeed lay stored under the Depot - I wonder if they were all removed!

And another

Who would think you were only
 minutes from a busy village centre

A few years ago the local history society (http://www.ruddington-history.org.uk)  produced a wonderful book called 'From Bombs to Butterflies' to tell the story of the Depot and the Park – fascinating reading and a fascinating glimpse into local history and the place that a small Nottinghamshire village had in the war effort.