A deeply moving trip to Bletchley Park
Bletchley Park.
‘Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of who do the things that no-one can imagine’ Alan Turing.
Alan Turing 1912 - 1954
It’s the forties, a world war is raging. From a tiny bedsit, you rise to go to work. It is a long and arduous shift, the machines are loud, it’s stifling in the hut you have been assigned to. Standing hurts your back yet amongst your colleagues, a silent understanding that the work you are doing makes the fatigue worthwhile. Time for a lunch break, idle chatter perhaps? Back to the vital work and by end of day, to the bedsit. Not a word of what you are doing can be revealed. You have signed The Official Secrets Act.
Now we know more. We can read factual accounts, romantic novels, diving into details about the people at Bletchley Park. The enormity of the work begin carried out there. The magnitude of their contribution to the war effort.
My first encounter with Bletchley Park, and Alan Turning lit up when I saw ‘The Imitation Game.’ Fascinated yet unenlightened, it sparked a desire to know more about this pivotal time in English history and the people who worked under the cloak of secrecy, decrypting codes that would end the war by nearly two years and saving thousands of lives. Spymaster stuff.
Further studies of espionage and in particular The Cambridge Five, brought Bletchley Park back into focus. John Cairncross, one of the famous Cambridge Spy ring who was assigned to Bletchley Park as a German translator, helping himself to the secrets to pass onto the Russians. How these men, like Turing and Cairncross came to cross paths has been highly exaggerated but good for a sinister tale, yet the fact that they were in the same perimeter of the park, does fire the imagination and I wanted to know more.
A recreation of the an office in the Mansion. Cardigans and ashtrays.
I wanted to learn about Bletchley and the work done there during the war. To learn about Enigma, Bombe, Colossus and one man specifically, Alan Turing. Turning, was unrewarded - treatment of his genius and ‘otherness’ condemned by society. There are many other well known contributors to the success of Bletchley Park and the decoding operations - men and women who were skilled linguists, cryptanalysts, mathematicians and philosophers - brilliant minds. Those who filled positions from secretary’s, Wrens, messengers, mechanics and caterers, equally vital. I suspected it would be an emotional experience and so it proved to be.
On a beautiful Sunday, summer’s morning, we caught the train from Euston Station, directly to Bletchley. Alighting from the station, the park is not clearly visible but a mere six minutes walk. Perhaps the image of the Mansion was uppermost, but soon I realised, it is all about the huts. The huts is what it is all about. Unattractive from the exterior, these huts held the true secrets of Bletchley Park. Felt as if one was entering an army barracks - practical, functioning huts surrounding open grassland and a lake, pierced by the original Mansion across the water. Unlike some tourist attractions, there is no embellishment, no colourful cut out models or light effects.
Bought by MI6 in 1938, conveniently between Cambridge and Oxford (the fountains of great intellectual minds), with good transport links to London, to house the GC&SC, otherwise known as the Government Code and Cypher School.
All very hush hush, the first recruits presented to the locals at Captain Ridley’s shooting party. By the end of the war, the few would be thousands.
Some rooms have been ‘dressed’ to give a sense of realism. Cardigans draped over the back of chairs and a small handbag tucked beneath the desk. An ordinary working day. Typewriters lie silent and ashtrays are clean - imagine the clacking, continuous clacking of keys and smoky cigarette clouds stifling the air. Poignant is the audio in one of the huts with the Bombe machine - young women chatting over the repetitive churning noise, cogs going round and round in an endless chorus while the heat from the smallness and machines must at times have been unbearable. Who could you tell outside of the boundaries of Bletchley Park? Who could you trust but those close within the walls?
Invaluable work that changed and helped end the war. Image BBC
A group was moving from the Chauffeur’s Hut onto the green, following and elderly gentleman who spoke with great expertise about life at Bletchley back then. We joined and hovered at the back, discovering, sadly, the group was exclusive to timing and wristbands. Definitely to book in advance next time. Volunteers are a great asset, they have studied their subject and share it with passion.
It is the green and lake within the heart of Bletchley offering space for relaxation. Summer parties, cricket, romance? The level of dependency upon one another, relating only to each other, living in a secret world where fear is constant and emotions run high, of course love will find a way. Heightened emotions. Love in a time of danger.
Ice skating on the Lake. Image Bletchley Park.
And then, there is Alan Turing. He was not the only hero of the hour, but for many, the one who most personifies the work done by extraordinary individuals at Bletchley Park. The one we associate with Bletchley Park from the film ‘The Imitation Game’ so searingly portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch. As Cumberbatch said in an interview about Turing and the making of the film:
“It is a woefully under known tale … What he did for his nation but how his nation repaid him for his difference to their status quo.’
Turing and Welchman perfected the Bombe machines, used to speed up the process of decryption and cracking of Enigma. Their work, particularly in the cracking the codes of German Naval Intelligence, saved many carrier ships bringing vital supplies from the dreaded U Boats. Together with all the other precious work done at Bletchley park, the ‘Double Cross’ aimed at duping the Germans into thinking that the real target was Pas de Calais, helped change and hasten the end of the war.
Turning was prosecuted for homosexuality in the early 50’s. Few knew of his contribution to the war effort, the mastery of his work, his achievements under difficult circumstances and his contribution in designing of the first computer - only that he was gay. Facing jail time or chemical castration, Turing chose the latter. He found dead in his flat in 1954 from cyanide poisoning. We may have apologised, the Government pardoned, it matters not. His loss will never be replaced.
I was looking for his ghost. His presence at Bletchley Park and I found him there. Amongst the other ghosts of hut 3, hut 6, all the huts and hut 8 amongst others. The ghostly voices of those no longer with us and then … I saw the elderly man again, taking another tour in the hot afternoon sunshine … the valued keeper of the stories. Not all are ghosts yet, some are now narrators. And I thought, what happens when the last of those who lived through the wars are gone? How do we keep the younger generations interested in the history, so important to know, when survivors have passed away?
It was time to catch the train back to London with the promise to return. All in our party were of the opinion that they had not nearly discovered everything there was to learn about codes, Christopher and what else whispered to us from this hallowed space. More interesting was the overwhelming agreement that every one of us echoed how we would have loved to have been part of it all, to have worked and lived at Bletchley Park during the war. We all somehow felt as if we had peeped into a place of heroic achievements, of camaraderie and purpose and left just a little bit jealous. I left still wanting to know more about Alan Turing, as if my keeping him alive in my mind would bring a little more honour, a little more peace for him.
https://bletchleypark.org.uk
Below a taster for you. A little dated but still amazing.
We offer a day out of London trip to Bletchley Park. This is a guided tour, so please contact us for any information.
karen.devilliers1110@gmail.com