It was a time when the prospect of a nuclear apocalypse seemed a very real possibility.
For decades, everyone from high-ranking politicians to ordinary people feared war would break out between the then USSR and the west.
And while Braemar might not be the first location that springs to mind when looking back on the Cold War, a local group will now mark the town’s little-known role in a turbulent period in recent history.
Hidden away in the grass at the car park by the duck pond, the moss-covered rusty concrete and steel structure marks the entrance to an underground bunker.
One of thousands of similar facilities across the UK, the shelter – known as post 45 – was to be used to monitor nuclear fallout in the event of an attack.
The bunker was staffed by volunteers from the local Royal Observer Corps (ROC), the now defunct civil defense organisation, 24 hours a day.
The post was operated between 1962 and 1991 but since then has lain empty and forgotten, with much of the inside unchanged since it was operational.
Mugs, ash trays, cleaning products are littered around the rooms which would once have been a hive of activity.
Now, the village’s history group has decided to highlight the site to ensure that future generations will know about the town’s part in the Cold War.
A plaque will be unveiled next week, with a former ROC volunteer in attendance.
Doug Anderson, chairman, said: “I was brought up in the village and I knew about it but there’s so many people that don’t know about it now.
“We feel its our job as the history group to let people know about it, it’s in the car park but many just walk past it.
“I do history walks around the village and tell them about it and they have no idea.”
The bunker is made of reinforced concrete with 12in thick floors, 7in thick walls and an 8in thick roof.
There are two rooms, a toilet and a small storage room.
The plaque will be unveiled on August 17 at 4pm.
