VOLUNTEERS want to breathe new life into a long-lost wartime bunker once visited by Winston Churchill.

The former top-secret radar testing station has lain dormant for nearly 60 years in scrubland at Ringstead Bay.

The building was created to test new technology for the Second World War and was visited at least once by Churchill.

But after the war, the bunker lay dormant as shrubbery kept the former test station hidden from view.

Now volunteers plan to carry out repairs with the hope of turning the bunker into a wartime heritage monument.

Dorset Countryside Volunteers are set to start the project this weekend when they clear weeds and repair a fence at the site.

Brian Thompson, of Dorset Countryside Volunteers, said he was amazed to discover the location of the former radar testing station.

He said: "I must have been past the site a hundred times in my 18 years with the Dorset Countryside Volunteers, but I never knew about the former bunker because it was buried in undergrowth.

"The old radar station played a key part in Britain's war effort - without the tests of the new radar technology we would have lost the advantage with our air force later in the conflict.

"It is believed Winston Churchill visited the site on a number of occasions to see how the trials were progressing and he stopped at nearby Holwell House, but not a great deal is known other than that.

"It's incredible to think such an important wartime and historical structure is on our doorstep but has been buried for so long."

Mr Thompson said the clear-up operation is needed because overgrown shrubbery is damaging the old radar station's concrete structure.

"Over the years the shrubbery has protected the station from the elements, but unfortunately things are so bad now it is affecting the structure," he said.

"We feel the time has now come to do what we can to look after the structure."

Mr Thompson plans to tidy up the area this Sunday before a team from the National Trust, which owns the land where the former station is located, analyse the site.

"We plan to clear away the shrubbery and repair a fence so the bunker can be seen," he said.

"Then experts can go in and see what is needed to preserve the site as a wartime heritage monument.

"We don't know how long the process will take because at this stage we've got no idea what work is needed."

Volunteers for the clean-up are asked to meet at the National Trust south car park above Ringstead Bay this Sunday at 10am.

Do you know more about Churchill's link to the Ringstead old radar station?

If so please call the Echo on 01305 830997.