A WAR veteran has made a horrifying discovery that will have golfers taking cover in bunkers - an unexploded bomb is buried on their golf course.

Members of posh Chipping Norton Golf Club cried 'fore' after hearing claims a 1,000lb bomb - which could destroy a street - is hidden underneath a fairway.

Amazed club secretary Simon Chislett said: "Our members would have my guts for garters if I started digging up the course for unexploded bombs."

The huge explosive is believed to be buried 12ft under a fairway about 200 yards from the main road into Oxford.

The shocking claim was made by former 'Chippy' resident, Leslie Leach, 68, now of Kingsway Drive, Kidlington.

He is convinced bomb teams had no time to make the huge explosive safe during the Second World War.

"That is why it was not dug out in the first place. I am sure of it," he said.

"During the war nobody had any time and there were no beefy strong blokes about because they were in the forces."

Mr Leach was 12 years old when the Luftwaffe dropped 22 bombs on Chipping Norton - creating a mass of craters.

He said: "There was one that had not exploded on the golf course. We kids went around the golf course and we found this hole.

"In a short time a guy came across with a sign and it had on it 'unexploded bomb', and told the kids to clear off," he said.

When Leslie returned to the bomb site days later the sign had disintegrated but the bomb was still there. The fairway was covered over shortly afterwards.

If Mr Leach's story is verified by bomb disposal experts, Chipping Norton could be evacuated while the explosive is located and defused.

John Kelly, county council emergency planning officer, said: "Anything discovered and dug up does lead to an evacuation, but it sounds as though that one is quite out of the way.

"If there were houses around there we would have to evacuate and get the bomb people along.

"At the moment it is causing nobody any problem."

The hunt for unexploded bombs began after Mr Kelly asked original members of the Oxford County Air Raid Precaution team to help him.

He has a hand-written 50-year-old map detailing wartime bomb sites, and thinks up to 60 unexploded bombs could be hidden throughout the county.

Pensioner Philip Butler, 69, of Station Road, Launton, Bicester, was the youngest member of the Oxford ARP - aged just 14 when war broke out.

He said unexploded bombs fell on Bicester that eventually blew up just 300 yards from where he stood.

Mr Butler's risky job was to ride on his bicycle around Launton blowing a whistle when the air raid sirens went off.

He said: "My stomach used to churn when you could hear the Germans and see the planes."

Joan Gladwin, 76, of Linkside Avenue, north Oxford, was also in the ARP. She said: "You were on the alert all the time. You had to stand-by and wait for the all clear. I was worried - especially when it was my father's turn to go out on the rescue squad."

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