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Bazookas were an occasional find and we had a supply of
safety pins so that they could be transported, tied to the frame of the bicycle,
so that they could not explode. The most exciting find was a Bren Machine Gun
with a sizeable quantity of ammunition.
Needless to say the Vicarage at Aldbury became a very well equipped arsenal.
Early fireworks were made from cordite removed from 303 ammunition. The rockets were not very good; they tended to falter having left the milk bottle and then pick up again once they got into the horizontal plain. Our skills progressed until they culminated in what for us was the ultimate firework, although looking back I'm frightened to think of what might have happened if this particular pyrotechnic had exploded in the wrong place.
We took an empty signal cartridge, about 3 feet long by 3 inches diameter to use as the mortar. A smaller empty signal cartridge, about 9 inches by 2 inches, we charged with cordite and let in a small fuse. We then got a thunder flash cartridge which we filled with gelignite and inserted a fuse to its detonator.