Nuclear War Sirens in Hastings

[Oldhands mike]

HI
I remember these frequently going off in the 1960's-they seem to have been activated every time the fire appliances need to attend a fire ,maybe they were used to call the fire crews to the station,particulary those using the Halton fire station.the sirens were mounted on top of telegraph poles at locations around the town,
Last one I saw was in Battle road at the top end,in a twitten ,opposite the last pub out of the town.

[Richard Pollard]

Hi, I have been away from the site for some considerable time and now back to try and answer some questions.
I do know for a fact that when I worked at the Hastings Power Station in Fir Tree Road there was a siren on the roof which we had to service frequently for the Ministry, and this was tested twice a year. There is yet one more that I know of and that is at the top of Briars Avenue corner of Sedlescombe Road North mounted on top of a telegraph pole, this was used during the war also as an Air-Raid warning siren, but was converted in the 50s as a Nuclear warning device; I was told that the fan blades were altered to change the sound, now is that fact or fiction I don't know! And of course the controlling equipment was changed so that there was a continuous sound rather than two alerts??
I had spoke to a couple of people who have lived in the area told me that they too had heard the siren go off during the late 60s and into the mid 70s.
During my time with Hastings Police there was a 3 minute warning device on the wall in the control room, that if this bleeped loudly you pressed the red button on the front panel which activated the towns sirens then you were all supposed to take cover! Well that was the theory any way!!

Hope this will enlighten some one?

[Geoff]

Welcome back to the forum Richard. An interesting read as usual.
A couple of pics below (courtesy of the Google street car) showing the Briars Avenue Siren.
The times I have walked past this and never noticed.