The moment hand grenade explodes at Bury sports club after street shut down

A Bury sports club has said they were happy to help out after a hand grenade was detonated in a controlled explosion on its field.

Some residents on Rivington Drive were evacuated from their homes after a hand grenade was dug up on Sunday, June 30.

Bomb squads attended and moved the item to the fields of Westbury Sports Club for a controlled explosion following the incident.

The club, which commemorated its 30th anniversary in September last year, is located behind the Wellington Barracks on Bexley Drive.

The incident took Mike Roberts, the groundsman at the club, by surprise.

He said: “I had just finished marking out the pitches with Andy Sayers.

“When getting ready to lock up the club, four firemen walked on to Westbury Sports fields.

“Jokingly, I asked if they'd come down to water the pitches due to just having re-seeded.

“They said: ‘No, sorry. We’re here with police and bomb disposal to do a controlled explosion.

“I was a little taken aback, but as I was there, I opened the gates so they could all enter the playing fields and make all other entrances secure.

“On doing this they then asked who I was so I explained I was the groundsman and had just remarked the pitches, so I would show them the best area to do the controlled explosion as we had just had £350k of new drainage put into to fields.

“Everything went well. The grenade found was controlled by bomb disposal, and no one was harmed. I personally want to thank everyone involved.

“The job was taken control of with much care throughout.

“Westbury Sports Club are glad that nobody was hurt, and we were happy to offer our facilities to help out.

“At the time, we were very nervous as we did not want to damage our pitches and the investment of our new drainage system, but all went well.”