Our visit to this vitally important place in our recent history reminded some in the club of how close they are to those who actually worked with the code breakers and helped win the war.
Even those members who had been here before admired how the museum has developed its presentation of the work done here that was central to the Allies success in WW2. And there amongst Alan Turing and his colleagues, who unravelled the secrets of the Enigma codes and developed the pioneering computer technology that made victory possible, some of us found names very familiar to us.
Anthea Willis was proud to see her father, a member of the Army Intelligence Corps, represented in the recently built commemorative wall.
Such was the secrecy surrounding all the work at Bletchley that Anthea knew little about what her father did and only now knows that his language skills contributed to the team that had a particular ear on what the Japanese were doing.
75 years on Alan and she are now investigating what secrets the passage of time can allow to be shared.
And Peter & Maureen Hughes were delighted to see the recognition being given to the contribution of the 10,000 or so women who were part the critical work done here.
These included their friend of many years, Barbara Hart who was serving then in the WRNS. At Bletchley she met her future husband Ron and after the war they became good friends of the Hughes when they were all working in the Middle East. Barbara’s recorded reminisces of her days at Bletchley are now part of the museum’s exhibition. She recently celebrated her 100th birthday and Peter and Maureen have regularly visited her at her home close by the Welsh border.
Before the coach left to come home Spencer Needsmade time for a detour to the neighbouring National Museum of Computing to see his first electronic calculator gratefully received into that museum’s collection. Clearly Spencer has always been the pace setter that we Molesiders benefit from today.
Thanks to Paul Walker for his organisation of the first Moleside visit travelling together in a coach, since Malcolm Bond took us to London’s Rail Mail more than 18 months ago.
Moleside’s November 2021 day at Bletchley Park will be remembered for a long time.