Mum used unexploded bomb as a VASE for 30 years without realising it was still live

Kathryn Rawlins, 45, had found the potentially deadly First World War shell as a schoolgirl and had used it as an ornament ever since

On that bombshell: Kathryn Rawlins with her now-safe vase

A woman was shocked to discover a wartime shell she had used as a vase for 30 years was still LIVE.

Kathryn Rawlins, 45, had found the shell buried in the playing fields at her school when she was 15.

Assuming that it safe, and thinking it would make a nice vase, she had kept it filled with her favourite flowers for more than three decades – until she saw a TV documentary and realised she may have actually been sitting feet from an unexploded bomb.

After calling the police, MoD experts were brought in to take away the vase and safely remove the explosive – before returning the casing to her.

Childhood find: Kathryn discovered the shell buried in a school field when she was 15

Trending
Conservative Party Conference 2015
Oregon shooting
Karen Danczuk
Glasgow bin lorry crash
Labour Party Conference 2015
Volkswagen

Technology
Money
Travel
Fashion
Mums

Home
News
Weird News
World War I

Mum used unexploded bomb as a VASE for 30 years without realising it was still live

0 comments
16:42, 2 Oct 2015
Updated 18:44, 2 Oct 2015
By Alexander Ward

Kathryn Rawlins, 45, had found the potentially deadly First World War shell as a schoolgirl and had used it as an ornament ever since

1415 Shares
Share
Tweet
+1
Pin

Kathryn Rawlins with her vase
On that bombshell: Kathryn Rawlins with her now-safe vase

A woman was shocked to discover a wartime shell she had used as a vase for 30 years was still LIVE.

Kathryn Rawlins, 45, had found the shell buried in the playing fields at her school when she was 15.

Assuming that it safe, and thinking it would make a nice vase, she had kept it filled with her favourite flowers for more than three decades – until she saw a TV documentary and realised she may have actually been sitting feet from an unexploded bomb.

After calling the police, MoD experts were brought in to take away the vase and safely remove the explosive – before returning the casing to her.

Caters Kathryn Rawlins with her vase
Childhood find: Kathryn discovered the shell buried in a school field when she was 15

Kath, of Atherstone, Warks, said: “The police said the shell had the potential to have killed anybody within about 20 metres of it and could have taken the house down.

“It’s funny to think that I had it on my mantelpiece the entire time – it’s just become a part of my family now.

“I have had the shell on the mantelpiece for three decades now and even took it to university. I used to stick plastic roses out of the top of it when I was dancing around to Madonna.

“Luckily my husband Chris just thought it was funny.”

Dread zeppelin: The shell was dropped from a German airship during the First World War

It was only through sheer coincidence that Kathryn, a married mum-of-two and school careers advisor, realised that she might have left unexploded ordnance on her coffee table over the years after she took a day off work through illness.

What she had always believed to be a harmless ornament had aroused suspicion after Kathryn watched a daytime documentary on unexploded wartime shells that had been dropped on nearby Coventry by German zeppelins during the First World War.

Kathryn said: “I made the strangest call to the police non-emergency hotline. I started off the conversation by telling them not to panic and attempted to describe the shell that I had.

“I told them it was 12 inches in length and three inches across at its base. The top of it has a conical tip, which can be unscrewed.

“I used to unscrew it and put the flowers out of the top.

Top off: Kathryn used to unscrew the shell’s nose cone when she wanted to put some flowers in

“It’s really heavy to hold and has some writing that looks like it could be German around the top.”

“In the end I just sent them a photo of the shell I’d been using as a vase. After the police saw that, they had an officer at my house within the hour.

“The situation then became very serious after the police told me that they would have to take the shell to the local barracks as the Ministry of Defence needed to examine it.

“It was a little bit worrying.

“The police brought it back to me when they assured me the shell had been made safe though, so I’ll carry on using it for my flowers.

“I took it into school to show the kids – they loved it.”