Visit to Bletchley Park 25th June - TrustNews Sept 15
On a beautiful sunny morning some twenty-four intrepid Trust members arrived at Bletchley Park to join “Captain Ridley’s shooting party"; or that would have been the pretext if had still been 1939, when MI5 managed to keep what was actually going on inside the grounds of the manor house very secret for the duration of the war.
lf the Germans had discovered that Bletchley Park was a code breaking intelligence centre it would have become a prime bombing target. So, avoiding radio contact, messages were sent to Bletchley by despatch motorbike riders from all over the country. At the peak of the war some 20,000 miles were clocked up this team of bikers every week! But the bikers did not know what messages they were carrying and they were never allowed in past the gates, so they too had no inkling of what was happening at Bletchley Park. Considering the black-out and the poor state of the roads in those days this is an astonishing statistic, though not surprisingly there were a few accidents along the way.
What started as a small select group of the best brains and mathematicians in the country grew to some 9,000 staff. This created a number of logistical challenges from accommodation and feeding through to maintaining the secrecy of the whole operation. When Winston Churchill made a surprise visit, he was aware that there were no recreational facilities, and this was remedied by the addition of a tennis court.
The number of rather ugly war-time huts built in the grounds (without planning consent in case you were wondering!) rapidly increased, and many of these now survive as a museum to the astonishing achievement of breaking the Enigma and Lorenz codes and saving many lives as well as shortening the war by an estimated two years.
Most of the breakthroughs arose through a combination of incredibly hard work, intuition and cribbing (guessing or anticipating the German methods of operation) and a certain amount of luck. The odd racing pigeon also contributed the success of these operations.
It was an amazing visit, but also humbling to think of the conditions under which these dedicated people operated, and how much society owes to them. We were grateful to lain Patten for organising such an excellent trip. If you haven't been, do go; it's well worth it!