BRIDGE buffs played on at their Beechcliffe headquarters... despite military shells being found in their garden!

The 44 members of Keighley Bridge Club insisted on playing their regular games last Thursday evening as police guarded the mortar bombs in the grounds.

The shells, in two twin-tubed containers, had been found earlier by a club member while carrying out tree pruning in the grounds at Clock View Street.

One club member, a retired soldier, recognised the items as mortar ammunition and called the police.

Officers emailed a photograph of the shells to the army’s Explosive Ordnance Team (EOD) at Catterick, which asked for the site to be guarded until the following morning, when they could come over to check in person.

The shells were identified as training rounds.

Club chairman, Mike Rattenbury, said: We just had a normal evening playing bridge. The police were very good and calm. If they had needed to clear us out they would have done so.”