Cracking The Code

Cracking The Code
What could the Buxton team learn from a visit to Bletchley Park?

By Eve Gilks, host at the Buxton Crescent Experience.

On Monday 31st March, a group of staff and volunteers from BCHT travelled in true charabanc style to Bletchley Park, home of the World War Two codebreakers. As well as a fun day out for a group of history lovers (helped by the glorious sunshine), we were also lucky enough to see and hear about what went on behind the scenes. What could we learn from them?

We were met on arrival by Bletchley’s CEO Iain Staden and their Director of Public Engagement, Rebecca Foy, who was generous enough to show us part of the site, tell us about Bletchley’s post-war history, the Bletchley Park Trust, and how they keep Bletchley relevant in today’s technological world.
The work at Bletchley was vital yet until fairly recently, a completely unknown part of Britain’s wartime story. Those who worked there had to sign the Official Secrets Act and they never spoke about what they did. When their stories eventually began to come out, films such as Enigma and The Imitation Game brought their story alive to millions, and that is why it attracts over 250,000 visitors annually.

The codebreakers were moved out of Bletchley by 1946, and the site steadily fell into disrepair. It was fascinating to realise that it was the very secret nature of the work that went on there that led to a complete lack of knowledge about the site, how important the work of Bletchley was in the war and therefore the importance of bringing these stories to life.
Bletchley’s workers were eventually given permission to talk about their time there in the 1970s although some took their secrets with them to the grave. Still nothing happened at Bletchley Park.

By 1991, the site was in such a state that there was talk of demolishing some of the old wartime huts to make way for redeveloping the land. But happily in 1992, the Bletchley Park Trust was founded to preserve the history of these modest wartime buildings and the extraordinary groundbreaking work that went on there.

From 1992, the Trust have worked on restoring the huts, creating a visitor experience to tell Bletchley’s story. The wartime work was driven from inside Bletchley Park Mansion.

A Victorian building with a hotch-potch of rooms which have now been set out as they would have been at that time. We saw half-bitten custard creams on desks, hand-knitted cardigans draped over the backs of chairs and solid-looking handbags on the floor.

 
As heritage workers, this was all fascinating, I particularly loved the posters behind desks mimicking the interests of workers who sat at them. For example, one room had posters from the Bletchley archives about dance performances and musical recitals beside the desk of the secretary who organised the entertainment for the Park’s workers. It was so interesting to see a heritage space on this scale focusing on the small details to create an authentic and accurate experience for their visitors.
Bletchley’s story is also told through interpretive materials such as listening cups, videos, and interactive games tables where you can try and decipher wartime codes, pretty much what we do in the Buxton Crescent Experience.

We were taken on a fascinating guided tour led by Rob, one of the site brilliant volunteer guides. Volunteer guides are so important for heritage spaces. They often have a personal interest in the site and pass on all kinds of inside stories and little titbits they have picked up from people they have met who actually worked there. One of my favourite stories was about an elderly couple on one of Rob’s tours. Whilst Rob was speaking, the wife corrected him on the location and use of one of the buildings.

Her husband was very confused. He had also worked at Bletchley, but neither had told the other. They had been married for 60 years.

One of the best things about the staff and volunteers at the BCHT is our diverse ages and interests. On a day-to-day basis, we’re always learning from each other about our own niche interests in history, and specifically in Buxton’s history. On days like this, we all looked at Bletchley differently, all taking different things from the same heritage space and finding different things to think about. We all found Bletchley incredibly interesting, regardless of pre-existing interests in World War Two or previous knowledge about what happened at Bletchley during the war.

There is increasing pressures on heritage spaces, especially ones like Bletchley which focus on one specific area of history, to remain relevant. We heard about how Bletchley has continued to remain relevant through recent events such as the groundbreaking AI Safety Summit held in 2023 The summit focused on the safety and regulations of Artificial Intelligence, the first ever summit of its kind. It ended in the signing of the Bletchley Declaration, signed by over 28 countries, to manage the challenges and risks of AI. A sign that Bletchley Park was once more leading the way in understanding and developing new technology.

Overall, we all thoroughly enjoyed our day out to Bletchley Park. To see how another heritage space works and how they engage with their visitors as well as to have such key insight from Iain and Rebecca has given us a lot to think about and some expertise we can now bring back to the Trust. We hope that sometime soon, we can invite the staff from Bletchley Park to the Buxton Crescent Heritage Trust and return the favour!