Picture the scene.
It's a Sunday morning during Easter time in 1985. The Berlin Wall is still intact and the Eastenders omnibus is on the telly. Half of Glasgow is probably still in their bed sleeping off the night before.
But the peace and quiet is shattered as air raid sirens sound out around the city for about two minutes, one that probably had a few folk spilling their morning cuppa.
Was the city under nuclear attack? Or had something terrible perhaps occurred 32 miles away at Faslane Nuclear Base?
Well, according to the newspapers the next day, the sounding of the sirens wasn’t a warning, but a city-wide air raid drill. Similar to the one that made headlines across the world when used in Hawaii back in December. And the last of which was ever heard in Glasgow.
This was an example of the ‘four minute warning system’, set up as part of The United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring Organisation (UKWMO) in 1953 to give the military and public a warning of possible air attack and fallout from nuclear weapons.
It wasn't an uncommon occurrence either. Such drills had been tested regularly in the late 50s and early 60s, sending the willies up Glasgow's older generation of residents - even if news of the drills were printed in the local papers a few days prior to advise the general public.
The public alert system (by radio, TV and air raid sirens) was aimed at giving people in the UK a warning four minutes before a nuclear missile or bomb would strike.
The double-ended air raid sirens were located on the roof of various buildings across the city, from police boxes and offices and schools to libraries and hospitals.
Places like Townhead Library, Stobhill Hospital, Hyndland Secondary School and almost all police stations all had the sirens in place to be used if necessary.
Apparently the system was able to be tested without the sirens actually making a noise, being activated by signals sent over normal telephone lines by the UKWMO.
But with the thawing of the Cold War and with it, the threat of a nuclear attack on UK shores, the sirens were removed and UKWMO training for the use of the siren warning network effectively ceased in the summer of 1991.
In lieu of a possible future detection system with remote sensors, civil nuclear defence has been devolved to Glasgow City Council in addition to their routine emergency planning responsibilities.
And, as part of a trial in October 2014, the Government sent out a location based public emergency alert to mobile phone handsets in a specified area of Glasgow city centre, using Glasgow City Council’s twitter account to alert people beforehand.
