BLETCHLEY PARK TALK AND VISIT
Society members have been enjoying taking a close look at some modern history.
On Friday evening, April 7th, at our new venue of Holy Trinity Church at Link Top we had Dr. Mark Baldwin giving a most lucid and detailed explanation of Enigma, the coding machine used by all three German services during World War II. We even had the chance for a bit of 'hands on' with the only German Enigma machine north of Bletchley Park.
The following day in glorious sunshine more than forty of us visited Bletchley Park, the scene of one of the greatest intellectual achievements of the war. Enigma could put a message into code fifteen million billion ways but, fortunately, our codebreakers were aided by the human error factor!
The human stories of eccentricities and absent mindedness of the 'boffins' caught the imagination. Alan Turing with his coffee mug chained to the radiator or riding to work on his bicycle
wearing a gas mask to prevent the pollen triggering a hay fever attack, just a few of his many eccentricities. There was Josh Cooper wandering around in the rain with his hat in hand and his brief case on his head! And it's recounted that Neil Webster would run his pencil along the corridor wall and over you if you were standing in the doorway.
However, the majority of the staff were known as 'geese', they carried out the routine operational jobs that speeded up the work of breaking most of the 5000 or so daily incoming coded messages and in doing so helped to shorten the war. As everything was in code, few knew the significance of the work they were doing or how it fitted into the big picture but Churchill knew their worth. He said they were 'the geese who laid the golden eggs but never cackled'
John HandleyASHTAV What's it all about?
Here Dan Wild tells of how he became interested and involved in the Association of Small Historic Towns and Villages - ASHTAV. The Wilds moved to Henley-in-Arden in 1993 and, as part of integrating into the new community, joining the Henley-in-Arden & Beaudesert Civic Society. The Society was already a corporate member of ASHTAV.
Dan writes: As a result we soon became familiar with, and looked forward to reading the quarterly journal 'ASHTAV News'. It was written in a friendly and accessible style and raised issues that concerned the local communities.
The features we particularly enjoyed were the reports of the seminars and the town profiles of the settlements that hosted the events. A firm favourite was the extracts from the planning press "The Inspector Says…" carefully read for any precedents that may be set.
The seminars were always held in interesting venues and we found that the topics were very relevant and the welcome warm, as you might expect from people who take an active interest in their communities. The networking over lunch and tea was as valuable as it was stimulating.
The ASHTAV seminars became a regular part of our life. The seminars and reports of them in ASHTAV News are appreciated by English Heritage for their educational value and recognised by grant support. Recently a seminar showed how to get the most from the new planning regime including dealing with LDFs (Local Development Frameworks) and SCIs (Statements of Community Involvement).
Dan Wild 01684 566543. danwild@danwild.net