E19 - I hope she will smile, feel recognised & proud

February 2014

This month we join Bletchley Park Veteran Margaret Roland as she was asked to be the special guest at a ceremony to mark the completion of refurbishment work at White Spire School in Bletchley.

We take you behind the scenes at rehearsals for February half term’s exciting Living History project, where Sorrel Meechan, one of the actors helping bring the buildings to life, tells us about her personal connection to the Bletchley Park having grown up knowing her grandfather worked as a Bombe Maintainer during World War Two.

Hear the intriguing – and entirely coincidental – family connection Sarah Harding, the Director of the hit ITV drama, The Bletchley Circle had with the Home of the Codebreakers as her mother Dorothy Harding, nee Thompson, was a Wireless Operator & Morse slip reader at Bletchley Park.

Michael Portillo, former Defence Secretary turned TV presenter came to Bletchley Park for an episode of Great British Railway Journeys. Between takes he shared a few insights into the absolute secrecy surrounding this place during World War Two & how some people, flying in the face of popular opinion, can keep secrets in this day and age.

Finally our roving reporter Kerry Howard interviews Veteran Betty Webb, who did the tricky job of paraphrasing decrypted messages before they went out to commanders in the field, helping to cover up the very existence of Bletchley Park & how at the Pentagon she continued her ultra-secret job till the end of the war.

Picture: ©shaunarmstrong/mubsta.com

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