Page 7 - IAV Digital Magazine #619

iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
School Evacuated After Student Brought Grenade To Show-and-tell
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDU-eipVGwo
By Sarah Hooper
A school had to be evacu- ated, and army bomb dis- posal experts were called after a pupil brought a hand grenade to a show- and-tell assembly yester- day.
The youngster unexpected- ly produced the WW2 explosive device at Osmaston CofE Primary School, in Ashbourne, Derbyshire.
Head teacher Jeanette Hart said she was ‘unsure if the grenade was live’ –
so she took it from the boy and placed it behind a ‘substantial’ tree in the school’s car park while the emergency services were called.
Army experts later estab- lished the grenade was safe, but police praised the ‘quick-thinking’ staff.
Mrs Hart said: ‘It was quite an eventful assembly. It was going fine and there was a boy who brought an old bullet case in, which I knew about, but then his friend produced a
hand grenade from his
pocket.
‘That, I was not expecting.’ Mrs Hart told the BBC she ‘tried to avoid a panic’ when she realised the pupil was holding the grenade – a family heirloom he had picked up without telling his parents.
She said: ‘It looked old and I thought it might be safe, but I didn’t want to take the risk.
‘I ended the assembly, took it off him and slowly carried it outside and put it behind a far tree in the car park. I wasn’t 100% happy carry- ing it, to be honest.’
Students were moved to safety while police and army explosive experts were called to the scene.
Mrs Hart said: ‘The chil- dren didn’t really know what was going on but they knew something was differ- ent and they were excited because they saw the police and because they were playing out when they would have been in school.’
Derbys Police said army
explosives experts deter- mined the grenade was safe using X-ray equip- ment.
A spokesman for the Matlock, Cromford, Wirksworth and Darley Dale Police Safer Neighbourhood Team added: ‘We even got to see those (X-ray) images and were told a detailed analy- sis of how there was noth- ing that would set
the grenade off.
‘Just a word of guidance for parents and guardians – double check what your kids are taking to show- and-tell, especially when they are family heirlooms.’
Mrs Hart said she had had chat with the boy after the drama: ‘It was entirely innocent. I don’t think he ever really knew what it was.
‘We’d been talking about VE Day and he knew it was from the war and just thought it was an interest- ing thing.
‘His family didn’t know and they were a little taken aback.’
iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine