Ralph Chapman writes:- A record size party of 42 proved that, given the interest, people areprepared to travel off the patch and even indulge in overnight accommodation. Bletchley Park fully justified the extra effort, aided by an excellent tour guide and his cache of anecdotal tales ( eg Alan Turing having to drink his tea whilst kneeling on the floor because he had lost the key to the lock/chain securing his mug to the radiator).
Photographs courtesy of Irene Chapman
9,000 staff worked at Bletchley, in a mish-mash of huts and 'temporary'buildings - all still there but many now in a dilapidated state;sleeping
accommodation was in surrounding houses/pubs/stately homes and the heady mix of middle aged academics and young Wrens set the local tongues wagging...they were clearly up to no good. There were several displays of equipment, generally in their original setting, including a working rebuild of Colossus - the earliest digital electronic computer - which cracked the German Enigma codes. Staff were sworn to secrecy, whi
ch some never broke; only recently a lady visitorpointed out a misplaced cog in one machine and when challenged by her husband admitted, for the first time, that she had been based at Bletchley; his amazement was tempered by the fact that he too had been based there and they had never met at the time nor spoken about it before that visit!There is much to see at Bletchley and the facility to re-use your entrance ticket for the ensuing twelve months is a very good idea.'
