ISSUE395|COMPUTER SHOPPER|JANUARY2021 91
BletchleyParkneedsyourhelpifit’sto
survive.Asboththesaviourofthemodern
worldandtheplacewherethecomputerwas
invented,it’svitalthatwedoallwecan.
Here’showyou canplayyourpart.
VISITTHEPARK
AtthePark,you’llgetfirst-handinformation
aboutthewareffortfromthefriendliest
museumstaffyoucouldeverhopetomeet.
Therearespecialeventsthroughouttheyear,
includingtheBattleofBritainflyby.Youcan
viewtheupcomingcalendarofeventsonline
atwww.bletchleypark.org.uk.Ticketscost
£21foradults(£1 8 .5 0 forconcessions)and
£12.50forchildren(under12sarefree),
whileafamilyticketstartsfrom£33.60.
GETYOURFRIENDSINVOLVED
Nomatterwhichrouteyoutake,getyour
friendstodothesamething.Withthese
simplesteps,BletchleyParkcangetthe
moneyandrecognitionitdeserves.
SOSSave BletchleyParknow!
Ticketsarevalidfor 12 months.
(Pricesupdatedfor 202 0.)
DONATEMONEY
Ifyoucan’tmakeavisit,whynotdonate
somemoney?Visitwww.bletchleypark.
org.uk/support-us/donateandleavea
donation.Yourhelpwillensurethat
futuregenerationscanvisitthepark
andseehowimportantitis.
WRITETOYOURMP
Youcan demandthatthegovernment
providesfinancialsupporttoBletchleyParkin
ordertoensureitslong-termfuture.You’llbe
abletofindoutwhoyourMPisbygoingto
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp.
▲Write toyour MP anddemand supportfor
Bletchley Park
it ultimately hadnodirect control over the
information it decoded –itmerelypassed the
messages on. This enabled thesite to stay ahuge
secret in away that other projects in thewar
could not. For example, theManhattan Project,
which created nuclearweapons,could hardly
have been kept asecret afterthey were used on
Japan. The fact that theBritishcould keep the
Park asecretmeant that thework done there
would notreach thepublicfor alongtime.
AQUESTION OFTRUST
Fortunately, there’s theBletchley Park Trust.
The Trust’smaingoalinthe past 18 years has
been to bring the code-breaking work,and
genius of theworld’s first computer, to
prominence. It’s atrickyjob, highlighted by the
dishevelled buildings as youenter the Park.
Driving through, it’s impossible nottonotice
the poorly kept roads. Then you lay eyes on Hut
6, run by Gordon Welchman, andsee the state
it’s in. The wood has almostrotted through, and
the hut’s no longer safe to enter. The mansion
house is imposing on the outside andstill has
its stunning ceilings and amazing panelling,
but feels alittle tired in places, due to years of
being treated roughly. However, one can also
appreciate howimportant it is that the Park has
any huts left at all;those early wooden buildings
could easily havebeendemolishedatany point
during the war. Whenyou realise that you’re
standing in what was possibly the single most
importantlandmark in the war, youcan
appreciatewhat afantastic job the Trust is
doing under difficult conditions, and howcrucial
it is thatthe Park is saved.
LOOKINGTO THE FUTURE
The main plan for the future is to sortout the
buildings in order to create abettermuseum
experience for visitors. “The sitehas notbeen
maintained, andparts weren’tmeant to last this
long,” says Greenish as he describes the
mammoth task of repairing those rotting huts
thatare approaching 70 years old, and the failing
roofs on 200-year old buildings.
Then there’s the problem of fixingthe
infrastructure andputtingincar parks,sothat
the Park can cope withthe 100,000-plus tourists
thatvisit every year. Getting the money for this
is tough, as few companies or people want to be
associated withbasic repairs. “We need more
roofs and roads,” says Greenish. “They’re not
sexy, but necessary. The roads are basically
potholes joined together by flat bits.”
Abig problem is that the Park getsno
fundingfrom thegovernment. This is hard
to believe, considering itsvalue in historical
terms, and its importance as acentrewhere
British mathematicsand engineeringcreated the
first electronic computer before anybody else
even gotstarted. It’s noteven that much money
required. Greenish estimates that around
£250,000 ayear in the short term would be
enough for somevital repairs and running costs,
until the long-term plan can be implemented
and the museum canbecomeself-sufficient.
GETTING INVOLVED
The site is currently around£1m away from
all the funding it needstocomplete its
redevelopment, which would turn the site into
three distinct areas:the museum, abusiness park
for companies,and apublic park that canbe
enjoyedbyall. We can all help the Trust achieve
thisgoal.Our ‘SOS’box above explains how you
can helpbydonating money, contacting your
MP and demanding support for the Park and,
above allelse, by visiting.
Avisitisone of themostrewarding things
you can do. You will be able to see original
Enigma machines to understand what the
Germansused to encode their messages. Then
there’s the completed rebuild of AlanTuring’s
Hut 8, where you can seethe great man’soffice
as it waswhen he left. This is complete down to
the tea mughechained to hisradiatortostop
people stealing it; he later lost the key, but
continued to drink from it anyway.Inside the
hut, you can seethe communications room and
get asense of how people wouldhaveworked
during the war.
Moving on to H-block, you enter the
National Museum of Computing. Here you can
see the love and hard work that volunteers have
put intothe site, withaworking replica of the
Bombe, decrypting actual Enigma messages.
You can also speak to arealWren abouther
experiences workingduring wartime –first-hand
information that you cannot getanywhere else.
There’s also the Colossus rebuild project,
undertaken by Tony Sale. He managed to
assemble partsfromthe era(BT was handily
decommissioningsome of the exchanges that
used the exact parts Tommy Flowers used in the
original Colossus), whileworking from eight
wartime pictures of themachine,plus some
fragments of circuitdiagrams thatengineers
sneakily kept.Hehad help from Arnold Lunch,
who designed thereadersystemin1942.It’s
incredible to seeinoperation,and you’llfind
Sale onsite andhappy to talktoyou about the
workings of the machine.
Because of these interactions and incredible
spectacles, Bletchely Park isn’t just oneofthe
most importantplaces in history, it’s alsoone
of the most interestingtovisit. With more
visitorsand more money, Bletchley Park can
only getbetterand better, and more people
will be able to recognise theamazing work that
was donehere. So why not repay BletchleyPark
for the amazing work it did in saving us, and play
apartinsaving it in return?
▲▲AAllan TTuriing was alleaddiing cryptto-anallysttandd
largely responsible forhelpingtobreak Enigma
FURTHER READING
Tony Sale’s guide to cryptography
http://www.codesandciphers.org.uk
Description of the Colossus Project
www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~eroberts/
courses/soco/projects/2008-09/colossus/
index.html
The history from the Trust
http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk
