IT might be 80 years since the start of the Second World War but explosive reminders of those days are still being found by beach walkers and builders.

Bomb disposal experts get calls to deal with suspect metal objects - which can turn out to be anything from anti-aircraft shells to a section of a torpedo.

Ground clearance work at Canal Head, Ulverston, for the new Booths supermarket in 1994 resulted in an urgent visit from an army bomb disposal expert after two shells were discovered from the Second World War.

The Mail, on September 12 in 1994, noted: "The area was sealed off while the search for further devices continued and work on the site was delayed for several hours.

"All the finds were of 25lb armour-piercing artillery shells, all filled with high explosives."

One of the army team members said: "These shells are extremely dangerous, they are live and in good condition."

In December 1998 Royal Navy specialists attached two pounds of explosive to  a United States Navy marine marker which had been washed up on the west side of Piel Island and found by Jimmy Costley.

The explosive device was wired to a detonator, buried on the shoreline and remotely exploded from a safe distance.

Work needed to make safe an American-made phosphorous explosive device from a submarine, again in December 1998, created an unexpected beach play area.

A controlled explosion left a huge crater in the sand at Priory Point, near Ulverston.

First to have fun in the hole after it was declared safe was seven-year-old Jordan Layfield, from Ulverston.

The Mail, on December 31, noted: "A huge black pall of smoke hung in the sky outside Ulverston and a big bang sent a column of stones and pebbles flying hundreds of yards across a beach."

In June 2000 a disposal team blew up a 12ft section of a torpedo which was discovered on the beach at Silectoft, near Millom, by Kirksanton's Michael O'Connell while walking his dog.

The huge metal tube was dragged to a safer distance from Silecroft Golf Club, covered in sand bags and packed with explosives.

It was thought to be the corroded fuel tank section was from a British torpedo and it was feared it had pockets of oxygen which could have triggered an explosion.

Haverigg coastguard John Whitford, said: "The disposal team had to be on the safe side and blow it up, just in case anything happened."