The bomb squad was called to a Northumberland country park on Saturday after a WWII artillery shell was pulled from the river by a magnet fisher.
An area of Hexham's Green Country Park was cordoned off after the find by Mandy Hayward, who travelled from her home in Dunston for a family day out.
The 49-year-old has taken up the unusual hobby, which involves throwing powerful magnets into canals and pulling out whatever sticks on, while furloughed from her job as a school support worker during lockdown.
“Where I live in Teams you get a load of shopping trolleys and things, so we’ve been going to different places,” she said.
“It’s not just about finding treasure, it’s also cleaning the water up and taking a bit of rubbish out.”
Mandy was at the beauty spot at around 4.15pm with her son-in-law Jamie Rodgers, having a friendly competition to see who could pull up the most metal
She said: “I pulled this thing up and it was very projectile-shaped, but I was thinking ‘it can’t be’ and I pulled it off the magnet.
“I’m a member of a few magnet fishing sites so I sent a photo in and people were saying it was a bomb, and I should call the police.
“Where I was, was near where people who do watersports go onto the river and the children’s play area. I know you shouldn’t handle these things but I wasn’t going to leave it next to children playing so I moved it to the opposite end.
“It was taking a while to get through to the police on 101 and people on my Facebook groups were saying it was dangerous so I went straight to 999.
“A policeman came out and looked at it and he said a bomb squad would have to come out from Catterick.”
The bomb disposal experts attended at around 7.15pm, examined the shell and took it away to be disposed of safely.
Mandy said: “They said it was a WWII shell. It’s definitely my most exciting find so far.
"I've been on furlough so it's all about trying to find things to do to keep yourself occupied."
