Bletchley Park

I recently joined some other CCC members for a visit to Bletchley Park.  During the 2nd World War this was the home for the codebreakers who de-cyphered the German Enigma and Lorenz codes.  The contribution this made to the Allied war effort was immense.  An oft repeated estimate is that it shortened the war by 2 years, and thus saved millions of lives.  Churchill, described the Bletchley team as 'the geese that laid the golden eggs and never cackled'.

According to Ann, who has been a couple of times in past years, the site has undergone a huge transformation.  The once decaying codebreaker huts have been fully restored and dressed to resemble how they would have been during the war.  Recorded voices, projections and interactive media all help to tell the story of the work done there.

The huts are kept very dark, blackout blinds keep sunlight from damaging the artefacts and only a few dim bulbs light the interiors.  Photography was tricky to say the least.  I decided to convert most of the hut images to monochrome and gave a few an old photo treatment in Nik Analog Efex.

The mansion house was much better lit, but lacked the atmosphere of the huts. I was also keen to get a shot of the recreation of Turing's 'Bombe', the electro-mechanical calculating engine that help speed up the code-breaking process.