Bletchley Park

We went today and it was a special veterans reunion weekend. We took a friend of my mother’s who worked at Bletchley Park and she loved it. She only worked at Bletchley Park between VE Day and VJ Day but before VE day she worked as a Turing Bombe operator at an outstation. She was given ‘Freedom of the Park’ to enter the park free of charge for life for working for the park and one of the outstations during the war. She was so proud and surprised.

She wore a sticker saying she was a ‘Bombe Veteran’ and got into loads of conversations and even got asked to sign a historian’s first day cover (collectable stamps on a special envelope). By going with Corinne we heard different stories and sides of life at the park than we would without.

There is so much to see but you can choose to only see selected bits and still have a good time in a few hours.

I’m interested in maths and would love to see the home of modern cryptography and code-breaking.

My mother knows at least one woman who worked here during the 2nd world war. I think there are at least 3 women in her small town that worked there then but don’t think she knows them all. This acquaintance of my mother wasn’t working on Alan Turing’s projects but is an intelligent and educated woman had a bigger (more interesting?) role than support staff (caterers, etc). I’d have liked to be there in any capacity.

I’ve wanted to go for a few years and as time’s gone on the desire to go has been getting stronger and stronger. We’re going the weekend after my birthday (and a few weeks after my exams finish). Can’t wait.

Just saw the movie Enigma in which Bletchley Park figures prominently. It’s amazing to realize what took place there during WWII!

Hell, for Turing, and all the computing that happened there.

This is a really important place that not many people really know about. It’s really interesting and they often have special open days with extra things going on relating to WWII.