Air raid museum beneath Clifford Road Primary School in Ipswich undergoing expansion despite funding issues
Hidden beneath a Suffolk primary school lies a vital piece of history – a World War Two museum.
But the structure which survived bombings during the war is now under attack from a different front.
Clifford Road Primary School, in Ipswich, is hoping to expand the heritage asset to include a new hub filled with artefacts and provide access to a second recently rediscovered shelter.
However, it needs to secure funding in order to complete the project as much of the work is being undertaken by volunteer crews.
Kevin Spiers, the school's assistant headteacher and vice chair of the museum committee, said: "We've been trying to collect funds to pay for building work, which has caused delays.
"All of our funding as a school that comes from authorities goes towards education, which means much of the support we have been given is voluntary.
"Our aim is to not only reopen the museum, but to expand it, and we've been working with the authority to preserve the site."
The new hub will be located in a disused swimming pool room and will feature artefacts to browse before visitors head underground to the main attraction.
In total, three shelters were built beneath the school and the first was uncovered in 1989 by workman digging a pond.
It was transformed into a museum and operated entirely by volunteers, with everything running smoothly for 30 years.
Recently, however, the school discovered water was slowly seeping into the shelter due to cracks in the ageing playground surface.
The mission then became to preserve the museum beneath, which required the playground to be resurfaced.
They had to assess whether heavy work vehicles would pose a risk to the playground, knowing there were tunnels running underneath, which could lead to a cave-in.
Mr Spiers said: "It was believed the other two shelters beneath the school had been filled in, which would reduce the risk of the playground collapsing under the weight of the vehicles.
"After conducting some tests we realised the other two tunnels still existed, and they immediately became part of our expansion plans."
These tests unfortunately revealed one of the tunnels had suffered a cave-in that rendered it in accessible.
The school then took the difficult decision to fill it in, which gave the playground the support it needed to take the weight of the heavy vehicles, so work could begin on the hub above ground.
Mr Spiers added: "Losing the third shelter was a real blow, but we had to fill in the third tunnel to save the other two, so we've turned a very negative experience into a positive one.
"We want the public to know that the museum is reopening and that we are working on getting it back up and running.
"By our current estimates the hub will be completed by October. We can then commence work on cleaning up the inside before reopening to the public."
From here visitors will be able to browse artefacts from the war before venturing down into the shelters.
Should it prove safe, the second and largest of the tunnels will be left as it was and feature in a guided tour of the tunnels beneath the school.
The museum has been shut since the onset of the pandemic but private booking are still available to view it.
He added: "Our goal right now is to secure funding so we can open up the last tunnel or do concrete repairs.
"We just want to get our museum back open to the public as it has been closed for a few years now.
"Despite the delays work is still ahead of schedule and we should be set for a grand opening in the Spring season to introduce the new facilities to the public."
