Historians have postulated that, without Bletchley Park, the Allies may never have won the war.
But, despite an impressive contribution to the war effort, the Bletchley Park site, now a museum, faces a bleak future unless it can secure funding to keep its doors open and its numerous exhibits from rotting away.
The Bletchley Park Trust receives no external funding. It has been deemed ineligible for funding by the National Lottery, and turned down by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation because the Microsoft founder will only fund internet-based technology projects.
"We are just about surviving. Money — or lack of it — is our big problem here. I think we have two to three more years of survival, but we need this time to find a solution to this," said Simon Greenish, the Trust's director.
As a result of lack of funds, the Trust is unable to rebuild the site's rotting infrastructure and faces an uncertain future. "The Trust is the hardest-up museum I know," said Greenish. "We have this huge estate to run and it's one of the most important World War II stories there is."
Bletchley Park — code-named Station X to keep its location from the Germans — and its outstations were responsible for intercepting German radio signals intended for broadcast to the army, navy and air force, and decoding them into meaningful messages. The job was thought to be next to impossible: German encryption was so secure that the chances of decoding it with random guesses were 150 quintillion to one.
Nine thousand staff worked around the clock at the Buckinghamshire site to break the German codes, eventually gleaning enough information to head off critical enemy manoeuvres.
The operation all started in the mansion pictured above in 1939, when it became the home of the Government Code and Cipher School (GCCS), the forerunner of today's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ).
The government had intervened to prevent a local property tycoon from developing the site for housing, hoping to provide a safer location for the GCCS, away from the obvious dangers of its previous home in central London. At the intersection of major road, rail and telecommunications connections and en route between the top two universities, Cambridge and Oxford, Bletchley Park was ideal.
Talkback
I guess President Brown et cronies won't be chipping in either, as the excellent Bletchley Park Museum is a reminder of the miracles performed there during the war to defend the freedoms they're now systematically stomping all over.
Andrew - nicely summed up, whatever your views on Gordon Brown! There is some possibility of funding from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, although it might be a while coming. Let's keep our fingers crossed for Bletchley. Second World War miracles is a great description for what happened there.
If every person in Britain alive today who was alive during the Bletchley Park Golden Years sent £1 to the museum it might survive - as we did because of them. My £1 is on its way.....
Michael
What was achieved there is recognised to be of fundamental importance to both winning the war (Churchill visited to say 'thank you' to them) and the development of the computer. Maybe Bill Gates doesn't want to support this museum because it underlines where electronic computing started i.e. here, not the U.S.
The place was nearly concreted over 40 years ago when the development of Milton Keynes New Town (as it then was) began. The achievements of all at Bletchley Park were kept a secret all through the cold war. It's a miracle that it survived all that, as well as the war itself.
Surely we're not going to give up on it all now. I've visited twice and have been absolutely enthralled by the true stories brought to life by the excellent guides and, in particular, Tony Sale (an engaging and enhusiastic real-life 'Q' who hs rebuilt the original Colossus.
I would urge you all to go and have a look and then join in the campaign to save what is surely a monument to what Britain was able to achieve when really up against it. We can still learn from it now - don't let it close!
Alongside but unconnected is the Computer Museum which has the Colossus. Typically the fighting between the two organisations will destroy both. Surely the people who have made and continue to make fortunes in the .com world can stump up funds to preserve the history and the related artifacts for future historians.
I second Andrew's simple and direct comment. However most of the time I feel like a dynasaur for holding such a view, a voice in the wilderness so to speak, even a joke.
Nevertheless, I do feel that the younger generations should be properly informed (educated) about the Second World War, and even the Cold War, and what people sacrificed, fought and died for; and what they owe to such sacrices.
Now we have lost that ethos and are, as Andrews says, so busy throwing away all the freedoms and values which our forefathers rightly held dear.
Of course this government, in particular, has assaulted our freedoms, values and choices like no other democratic goverment before it, but we cannot turn back the clock. We must move on to 'a brave new world', one that would not seem entirely worthy of these sacrifices.
On the subject of the need for the next generation to understand just exactly what a war is REALLY about, I could not agree more. I've never been in a war zone, but I have had an education, I have friends in the military and I have sufficient imagination to know that I don't want to be in one, and I REALLY don't want one to come to me.
Today, war is just a word used in death match video game titles. It has no reality for the huge majority of the younger generation. Some of them sign on the line and get an object lesson, but the rest just keep on hitting the buttons on their handsets and making "war" on whoever the enemy of the day happens to be.
So I'm with the previous correspondent all the way until:
[[ Of course this government, in particular, has assaulted our freedoms, values and choices like no other democratic government before it, but we cannot turn back the clock. We must move on to 'a brave new world', one that would not seem entirely worthy of these sacrifices.]]
Absolutely and emphatically NO.
Just because this bunch of headline obsessed control freaks has decided to make freedom of assembly conditional, free speech a matter for interpretation and habeas corpus a corpse, doesn't mean we can't get the next lot to turn this round and at least take the thorns out of these laws, if not repeal and replace them with something more fitting.
Phrases like "Civil Liberties" and "Our ancestral Freedoms" are now greeted with derision by Joe public as if to believe that such things are important is missing the point and that "The Threat of Terror" (yuk) is far more important than such nonsense. I even heard one genius say, in all honesty "If I hear one more mention of Civil Liberties I'm going to flatten someone. They could blow up my kids you know!".
We now seem to have be more concerned about non-freedoms; like "How about the freedom to not be blown up"; and non-rights "Does anyone worry about the right not to have our kids preyed upon by drugs dealers and criminal gangs." ... "Never mind your *Civil* *Liberties*, how about that sort of stuff." .... Sadly, anyone who's consideration of these matters doesn't extend past the end of the headline is not going to be particularly receptive to hearing that it's a wee bit more complex than that. They're not taught how to do "complex" any more, just how to pass tests.
I'm sure many people in this country of my generation had relatives that they deeply respected that fought in World War 2. Well folks, if you indeed respected them, think about how they would feel now, that the horror they suffered has been made trivial for the sake of a headline and a vote or two.
For shame.
I think it's really great to see you guys getting behind Bletchley Park, particularly refreshing seeing the sarcasm of some of the (US-originating) comments towards our heritage on Slashdot, which picked up on this story. Clearly some of you have seen it for yourselves, and were as impressed by the work that has gone on there as I was. Let's not forget, the redeveloped site is less than 20 years old, and it's still growing. Let's hope there's not going to be the infighting that you suggest, 61320. There's little sign of that at the moment. On your other point, that surely someone will donate the funds to keep it going - let us hope so. Bletchley does have some generous contributors, just not enough at the moment. Fortunately visitor numbers are rising, forecast to be up 20 percent year-on-year. It's not just the millionaires who can help save our heritage.
As well as trying to visit if you get the chance (and encouraging friends & family to do so). It is also possible to just send a donation.
... I tested this and it works :)
I recently called to deposit some computers in the museum. There is a vast amount of equipment awaiting examination. But it is all being done by volunteers. It seems the Science Museum dont want to know. The leases for the Museum and "Bletchley Park" are different . There is a pressing need for some knocking together of heads plus a massive injection of funds. These must come from the computer industry.
How about ZD campaign for this?
Whilst fully endorsing all the other comments in response to my earlier post, I still do have some difficulty with the concept that a future government could or would unpick some or any of the the current overbearing and overburdening legislation.
Notwithstanding the traditional differences, the three main parties seem, at the moment, to be struggling to occupy the same territory and generally offer nearly identical policies.
Time will tell!
The only reason for the next Government not to unpick this stuff, would be that "We The People" did not tell them forcefully enough that we require them to do so and the more people who should know better, but still take this approach, the less likely it is to happen.
If we assume we are going to lose, then we will be proved right.
Do you think that what you said is truth.
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Yes I do.
Do you?
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