Live ammo found in canal clean-up

Volunteers cleaning up a canal were amazed when among the shopping trolleys and furniture they fished out was 40 rounds of live ammunition.

The ammunition was discovered in a bag which was pulled out at the number three lock at The Delph in Brierley Hill. It is thought to be from an Enfield 0.303 rifle and could have been dumped by a soldier.

Graham Whorton, from the Birmingham Canal Navigation Society which organised the clean-up, said he was stunned to make the discovery.

"You expect to find all sorts thrown into canals," he said.

"We have pulled out 11 shopping trolleys, a three piece suite and a washing machine on this clean-up alone but live ammunition is a new one for me."

The volunteers called police and officers from Brierley Hill police station disposed of the dangerous clips

It has been 12 years since the lock was cleaned.

Six canal societies from the area teamed up for the project run by DCI 150.

The charity, Dudley Canal Improvements, is an umbrella group to restore the area's waterways.

DCI 150's Paddy Grice said he believed the ammunition had probably come from a soldier returning from action in the Second World War. The canal may simply have been a convenient and safe place to dispose of the ammunition.

The clean-up was one of a number being carried out by volunteers ahead of a series of festivals planned along the waterways to celebrate 150 years of canal engineering in the Black Country.

The first in the series takes place at the Delph locks over the weekend of June 7 -8. It culminates on August 20 in a gala re-enactment of the original opening of the old Delph lock system.

Mr Grice said the site had been designated as a conservation area by Dudley Council.

For details on events visit www.dci150.co.uk or call 0844 800 5076.