Dear Editor

Following your excellent article on the history of the Royal Ordnance Factory at Rotherwas, readers may be interested to know that the Waterworks Museum in Hereford rescued the large engine and fire pump which had lain derelict since 1945.

When the factory was secretly rebuilt in anticipation of WW2, a large body of water was created alongside to act as a reserve supply. The engine installed was a Blackstone 5-cylinder diesel engine driving a powerful two-stage centrifugal pump, capable of use in all types of conflagration. The fire pump was housed in a bomb-proof building (still there) and guarded by a machine gun post.

The Waterworks Museum created a new building to house the engine and pump, ensuring that it replicated, as far as possible, the layout and atmosphere of the original. Museum volunteer engineers brought the engine back to life and it can be seen thunderously working as it did at Rotherwas 80 years ago. Adjacent to the engine there is the only permanent exhibition of the Munitions Factory and the life and times of Hereford in WW2. The displays bring out all the salient features mentioned in the Gazette article including the bomb attack and the heroes who won George medals.

Dr Noel Meeke MBE