Of Secrets, Spies and Soroptimists…

Five clubs from the region undertook a daring weekend visit to Bletchley Park on 6 August as part of an undercover operation to infiltrate the goings on there. Members from SI Reading/Bracknell/Wokingham, SI Slough/Windsor/Maidenhead, SI Newbury, SI St Albans and SI High Wycombe spent the day being debriefed on the use of ciphers, the bombes and the Enigma machine.

To say we were no more the wiser may be an understatement but given that National Security was at stake and the information of those who worked there was unknown until 1974, it was an incredible lesson in what can be done when so much is at stake. The Bletchley Park Manor and grounds were a great provider for the villagers in the 19^th Century and when it was sold in the 1930s, it was at a time when the Government was looking for a place to house its cipher operations prior to WWII.

Those who were recruited were housed and worked in the outbuildings and the Huts – first of all wooden and then as the war progressed, brick built. They only entered the Manor House to sign the Official Secrets Act. We heard amazing stories of breakthroughs, how reliant the war strategies became on information which was deciphered and decoded and the incredible strokes of luck which enabled these brilliant minds to stay ahead of the enemy. Ian Fleming was familiar with the work at Bletchley Park and used his knowledge to create some of his James Bond plots, even though this was post wartime, the information sources were still unknown.

We had a tour of the sites in the morning and visited the National Museum of Computing, after lunch we visited the Churchill exhibits and the main Museum and there was still plenty left to see. The small lake is still at the entrance and the grounds are very pleasant to walk around. Of course our timing was impeccable, since the Queen had only preceded our visit by a matter of weeks.

Our thanks to Brenda Jenkins who organised the visit.