A BOMBSHELL has been dropped by a former member of the Home Guard who has revealed the existence of a dummy mortar shell at the bottom of a pond on Malvern Common.

Dennis Burrows, 82, said the Home Guard used the common to practice defence manoeuvres and fire dummy shells in 1942.

He explained: "The shells used to bounce off the ground like skimming stones, but one day the weapon was set up incorrectly

"Instead of bouncing, the shell went straight into the pond by Longridge Road and never came out."

Mr Burrows, who now lives in Barry, South Wales, described the mortar shell as round, about a foot long, with a tail on it.

"It's only a dummy, so won't hurt anyone, but if someone found it with a metal detector it could cause a bomb scare," he said.

In a project funded by water company Severn Trent, Malvern Hills Conservators cleared the pond of silt in January.

Conservation officer David Whitehorne said: "It must have gone in very deep. We moved a lot of silt when we cleared the pond and nothing was found."

Mr Whitehorne said, as the shell was not dangerous, it would be best to leave it where it is.

"It's more likely to do more damage than good if we try to dig it up," he said. "It could have gone so deep we'd have to remove layers of clay, which would effectively ruin the pond.

"It's very interesting to know about it though."

Mr Burrows said the shell was fired from a Blacker Bombard or Spigot Mortar, which were distributed to the Home Guard units across the country.

"It was so heavy," he said. "We'd take it out in turns to practice there and you can still see the lumps in the ground from where we had our trenches.

"We had a defence plan for if the Germans came up the Hanley Road, but never thought about what would happen if they came the other way."