The club goes to Bletchley Park! Thanks to the Waitrose Community Matters grant, we have been to Bletchley Park and used the grant to boost the club’s resources.
Through the generosity of the Waitrose Community Matters grant scheme, the club has taken some very positive steps forward.
We have been able to replace some of our older laptop computers with more modern and reliable devices complete with the latest operating system. In addition, we have been able to purchase a portable sound system to enable all of our members to fully hear various talks and presentations. The grant has also enabled us to purchase a banner and have some leaflets printed so others can learn more about our club.
Perhaps the highlight of the year has been a trip to Bletchley Park, near Milton Keynes. We were able to learn how war time staff at Bletchley Park played an essential (although very secret) role in World War 2 by decoding enemy messages to give the Allied Forces an advantage. It has been said this helped bring an end to the war much earlier than it could otherwise have been.
Motts Coaches kindly provided transport from Dunstable to Bletchley Park. They helpfully used one of their coaches with a wheelchair lift which benefitted some of our members and the driver willingly helped with the assortment of wheelchairs, walking frames etc.
Once in the Park, we were treated to coffee and pastries and this helped us get our bearings. Bletchley Park volunteers were on hand to help us around the various exhibitions and audio-visual presentations. This helped us gain a better understanding of how the technologies of the war time made such a difference.
At Bletchley there were the beginnings of computers which at the time successfully decoded secure German messages. Having the means to break those enemy codes enabled the war to change direction for the benefit of us all now. Of course these days we are all accustomed to our modern smart phones and computers, together with an array of apps to make life easier. The Bletchley staff in 1940 could not have imagined how computer technology would develop or imagine the creation of the internet!
The grounds at Bletchley Park are well maintained. It is all beautifully kept and the focal point is the mansion where we could see various rooms used as offices, all preserved in an authentic way.
It is quite hard to imagine there were a few thousand staff based at Bletchley during the war, all subject to the Official Secrets Act. The were the (now famous) mathematicians such as Alan Turing and an army of other staff involved in breaking enemy codes. All of these staff needed housing in the local area, plus the need for staff canteens etc.
There were also a team of motorcyclists who, every day of the year, would urgently take messages which had been intercepted at various points around the country to Bletchley for decoding. Some of us were able to see a restored Norton motorcycle and other vehicles of the time in the garages behind the mansion, including an ambulance as shown above.
We are so grateful to Waitrose and their Community Matters grants scheme which funded the trip together with the computer equipment, sound equipment and other things to support the club. We are also most grateful to Bletchley Park for their army of lovely volunteers who all helped the day go smoothly and Motts Travel for our coach travel.