大象传媒

"CHILDREN OF THE PARK"
(Living with the Code Breakers)
(Fact)
By
Neville J. Budd.

1939 to 1949.

How do you remember the most important things that happened in this world over 50 years ago, as like all other children of that period, all you ever wanted to do was childish things, play, climb trees, and stay out as late as you can, and of course you never did understand what was going on around you, decisions and actions that would change the whole future of the world.

To have to rely on ones memory to recall significant activities after such a long period of time is so hard, things get blown all out of proportion or forgotten completely, so it is really advantageous that a diary is kept of all of the important events which may occur during our lives.

How often people say to you "Do you remember when......." or "Do you remember so and so?" you always say "Oh! Yes I remember", but really its only after these people have gone into more detail you really do remember more and more, or is it some of their memories become entwined with yours and then you include them into the things you recollect and they all mould into one memory of the thing's which did happen. So it was with myself, when I decided to put down in writing some of the memories of our lives as the...

"Children of The Park".

When you think back to the time when you were about five or six years old everything seems so different, always sunny, never ever a rainy day, unless of course you were due to go on a Nature Ramble, then of course it always rained and you had to stay in and have extra lessons in maths or English. But then when you got back home of course the sun always shone and for me that was great because I was a very lucky child during the war, I had the whole of Bletchley Park as a playground let me explain about Bletchley Park.

Lord and Lady Leon had the Mansion built during the Victorian era, the interior was so beautiful, with stain-glass windows, wood panels, marble and oak floors then there was the stairs with marble columns that spiralled up to the main bedroom floor, but I think the most spectacular rooms was at the back of the house on the ground floor, I am not sure what this room was used for when Lord and Lady Leon occupied the Mansion, but I would think it was the most admired, it may have been the library, or even the dining room, I do not know of any person entering who would not have been lost for words, this room was panelled throughout in wood, the ceiling was covered with intricately carved panels decorated with scrolls, coat of arms and flora type patterns, the walls were in wood also carved but this time with Romanesque columns with scrollwork.

The park itself had extensive woods and beautifully kept lawns which surrounded a decent size lake that at one time had about six small rowing boats on it, but when the war began for some unknown reason they were removed, boats, maybe some government official in London thought a Submarine might surface and row German spies ashore who would then be able to penetrate one of the most secret establishments of the Second World War, then they would see just how we managed to decipher the majority of German codes, my father never did understand the logic for this action, because when the boats were on the lake you could row out to the small island where the ducks would nest and if you didn't get caught you found nice fresh eggs, the lake had lawns with rose bushes and large hedges surrounding it, then at the top of one of the lawns near the Mansion there were two of the most beautiful Magnolia trees a person could hope to see, and between them was situated a rose arch with steps leading to the lawn.

When Lord and Lady Leon died the whole of the Park was taken over by the Government and eventually the code breaking school moved there from London, this meant that everything was ready at the outbreak of WWII.

During the war approximately 12,000 people worked in the Park, the work which these people did was extremely top secret, in fact Winston Churchill, who was a frequent visitor, often said 'Bletchley Park was his and England鈥檚 best kept secret', this secrecy extended to the very top that even some of the high command and government didn't know where the information received telling them what the Germans were about to do came from.

During the war the work carried out in Bletchley Park was the interception and breaking of the German codes, the best known being the 'Enigma Code' which had been in use for many years and the Germans considered unbreakable, also the first ever-electronic Computer was built there, so you can see we were very privileged children to have lived in such a place? We were so engrossed in our own lives that we were oblivious to the important work, which was being carried out by so many people.

I had the tallest trees to climb you ever saw, I would climb and climb until I reached the very top, really it was very dangerous, the thickness of the branches now I look back, would not support a sparrow let alone a very young boy, but at that age we never seem to see the perils which so often lay ahead, but when you got to the very top of the tree, the things you can see, to you it looks like the whole world, or maybe the Germans were invading and you are the last resort for your country, and then the inevitable happens, you are brought back to earth, so to speak by someone calling for you to come down because 'you will fall and hurt yourself', how silly for anyone to think such a thing, that would never happen, but you eventually came down otherwise your dear sisters will tell daddy and you will get a good hiding, so now you have to think of some other game you can play were no silly girls can interfere, so, it's off to collect duck eggs from the lake, this I would normally do first thing in the morning when the dew was still on the ground, on these days the air on your breath was always sharp and crisp, it was as if you could smell the freshness in the air, I would walk slowly around the edge of the lake looking in the shallow water to see if any of the ducks had laid fresh eggs which I could reach, most times I would collect about three or four eggs and I would then take them home so we could have them for breakfast, we being, my father, and brother and I, as my sisters did not like duck eggs, 'you don鈥檛' know where they have been', I bet they look back on that phrase and wonder just how they could say such an absurd statement, those eggs tasted so delicious, I can still remember the taste and I love duck eggs to this day.

Of course there were times when I would have to play with my two older sisters as we were the only children living in the park during the war, except for our older brother Bobbie who was 13 years older than I, so really he did not count as someone to play with, we were not allowed to have our friends come home with us; this was due to the very secret work, which was being carried out there, so, my sisters would be told they would have to look after me, which they of course did with all of the enthusiasm of them being placed into a room that contained a swarm of bees.

Of course my sisters used to enjoy my presence, they would either try to, lose me, and then they would tell our mother that I had run off, or make my life a total misery that eventually I would really run off, the outcome was inevitable anyway, when I arrived home I would get a clip around the ears, I had great sisters, especially one who really took after her mother, I always thought was the reincarnation of Hilda Baker remember her? She was the lady who always got her words wrong, things like, 'Sir Francis Drake circumcised the world with a big clipper' or when we lived in America she would say about the condominiums 'Oh look at those big Condoms' anyway, my sisters would have to suffer me for a few years yet, so when we did stay together, we would all go to the little hidden garden at the far end of the lake, the hedges were so high that nobody could see what we were doing, it was our secret place, where we would tell our stories of pixies and fairies, dragons and kings, then we would have make believe tea parties and of course only the most important of people were invited. Life was great for a very young boy who really didn't know what was happening on his front step let alone in the whole of the world, we never knew or understood what it was like to be on 'Rationing', Mum and Dad always made sure we had enough to eat I just do not know how they did it, but I suppose all Mothers and Fathers were the same during this period of time.

At onetime my sisters were given a couple of bicycles for their birthday, they were twins, their birthday was in April, and in fact it was the same date as Hitler鈥檚 birthday, so they used to get teased real bad at school, anyway they had the bikes for presents, where dad got them from I will never know, they were the type we used to call 'sit up and beg', you know like the old 'sky pilot' (priest) used to ride, well of course when they got the bikes they were there pride and joy, and my not having a bike, they were told they had to let me have a go now and again, the answer, 'Nev can't ride a bike' and the retort from dad 'well teach him', thanks dad, because this now left me at the mercy of my two beloved sisters, there seemed to be a sadistic glow appear in there eyes, have you ever read the "Just William' stories, well just double him and his antics and you will know how much I suffered.

The ideal place to teach me to ride a bicycle was on the road between the Mansion and the bungalow, (the bungalow where Colossus the first ever electronic computer was built) from the archway down to the roadway which was a nice little hill that led to the front of the Mansion, I was glad that the lake wasn鈥檛 at the bottom of this hill, (I could swear at times I could see a gleam in my sisters eyes, as if they were willing the lake to move) I could just imagine the reply if I had gone in to the water, 'well you told us we had to teach him, can we help it if he can't steer properly' sometimes I had the feeling that one day I would get home and they would have all moved or when I unwrapped my sandwiches I would find them wrapped up in a road map, it really wasn't that my family didn't like me, it's just that as everyone kept on reminding me that being a 'mistake' and the baby of them all I was tolerated, also having nobody of my own age to be with, until after the war when some other families moved in next door to us, then my sisters had to suffer me, which one of them still does to this day, reminding me in front of relatives and friends, of all of the times I landed up in trouble, thanks mostly to her intervention.

Anyway, they eventually got me onto one of the bikes, I mean I could hardly see over the handlebars, which I had to reach up to and look under to see where I was going, they held the bike upright and ran beside me down the road holding onto the saddle, with me saying 'hold me' and the answer coming back "Yeh Nev, go, we've got a hold of the saddle, you'll be OK", I mean that's like Hitler saying he will not attack Poland, would you believe him, yeh! I know a lot of people did, then I would hear these two giggling voices trail off into the distance and I'm heading for the main road with jeeps and trucks driving around in front of the Mansion, with my sisters laughing their heads off.

When the war had ended we were allowed to have some friends visit us in the Park, some such occasions were birthday parties, I remember one, maybe it was the first one after the war, when my sisters Jean and Faye invited some of the girls from their class at school, they were all gathered on the big lawn at the lake near the two beautiful Magnolia trees, it was only at this time that a lot of our friends realised the size and beauty of our "garden".

Of course it was not always fun and games, there were times when we were told we couldn't go to certain areas of the park to play, well, you must realise that is like showing a red flag to a bull, especially my sisters, Neville always got caught and dragged home by one of the special security guards to face mum and dad, and yes, I always got the clip around the ear, while dear sisters stood by like two little angels as if butter wouldn't melt in their mouths. I remember at one time for some reason we were told to keep quiet whenever the phone rang, we never could understand the reason for this, and it got to the stage that we were always scared of making the slightest sound and we would tiptoe around the house, and whenever the phone rang we were afraid that someone would hear us. I gather the reason for us to be quiet was that certain people did not think children should be in the park because of all of the secret work being carried out during a time of turmoil. Looking back on the way some of these people thought it's a wonder we won the war, I mean what could some kids say when at times we didn't even know what was going on ourselves.

The house we lived in at the Park was Number 2 Cottage, this was set to the side of the Mansion behind large trees and hedges, it had a court yard which had two other houses on either side; at the top end of the yard were the old stables and coach sheds, then leading out of the yard you had to pass under an old clock arch from which when you looked down the road was the back gate, this road was lined by the garden outhouses and garages.

As you entered the cottage, in front of you was a long hallway with six rooms leading off from it, first on the left was my brother Bobbie鈥檚 bedroom, next was Jean and Faye's bedroom then the last door on the left was the large living room, this had two big windows looking out over our garden, I remember this room being decorated at sometime by some of the men who worked for the M.O.W. during the war you could not get wallpaper so the whole room was painted by hand, I hear what you say, so what, well I do not mean that the paint was just slapped onto the walls; all of the patterns were hand painted, the lines for each panel and then the dapple pattern in the panels were completed with sponges; mind you they only had a few colours to choose from, green, white, black or brown, that last one, I'm really not sure of, then at the end of the hall facing the front door was the bathroom then next to this was a very large kitchen; this really was the main room of the house, in one corner was the largest larder you ever saw, I should know, if they lost me, that was the first place they would look, I could get a chair inside, shut the door and have a good old feast, mum was a very good cook and could make our food go quite a long way, also dad kept chickens so we were never without fresh eggs or for that matter chickens, I can sometimes still smell the food dad use to mix for the chickens, potato and carrot skins, all of the greens tops had been cut away and any other scraps, which were left over, these were all mixed together and then cooked on the stove and mixed with corn, we also had to save all of the eggshells then we would crush and grill them this was put out for the chickens to eat; boy did they produce some good eggs, dad also kept a vegetable garden, so the larder was the place to be, I mean it would be pure madness to run away from home and leave all of this, so I would shut myself away with beautiful homemade jams, pickles and pies all stored on an old marble slab, to this day I still enjoy all of the home made treats but most of all I remember those early days sitting in the larder, great, the radio was situated next to the old black leaded stove, which was still in use although my mother did have a gas cooker, mum and dad listening to the news in the evenings and later in the evening to I would think the most popular show of the times I.T.M.A. as many of the older generation will know stands for 'It's That Man Again' then afterward the News I was always ready for 'Dick Barton, Special Agent' supported as always by his good friends Jock and Snowy, as soon as this programme was finished it was off to bed.

The last room on the ground floor was mum and dads, this was just inside to the right of the front door, I think they had this room as dad sometimes had to go out in the middle of the night, we used to get calls at all hours of the day or night, and you had to go through this room to get to the stairway, where there was a doorway leading to a spiral stair onto a landing where all of our toys were stored, this landing then opened on a large 'L' shaped room with two smaller rooms at the back of the house, one of these being mine, no, I did not mind being upstairs by myself, in fact I enjoyed it, it was like my place where I could get away from everything and everybody, where I could play as I wanted without interruption from my sisters or brother, at nights sometimes I would lay in bed and listen to the drone of the aircraft flying overhead, wondering where they were going and what the outcome would be when they reached there targets, the sound seemed to go on and on all night long, I never knew if they were German aircraft or our own, but, it is a sound that I will never forget, also I really do not think I will ever hear it again, although at times they have tried to recreate it in the movies but never seem to get it right, sometimes on a warm summers night when there is no other sound to disturb the air, you may hear a plane fly overhead and it does jog something from the back of your mind, it takes you back to those times when to you, not much seemed to matter except that you could do what you wanted, its such an individual sound, a deep drone that seemed to go up and down in pitch, also some nights we would sit on the bench seats in the windows and see the searchlights to the south of us at night, they would crisscross the sky with an eerie sense of probing, it was like a light show that went on for hours, during the days we would watch the vapour trails from the planes overhead, they use to leave such lovely patterns in the sky, but then only being children how were we to know what really was going on up there, well, my brother and sisters did but with me it was so different, it was only when I was a bit older that I began to realise what was happening; I think when we were watching all of this up above in the sky it must have been about the time the "Battle of Britain" was being fought.

As I mentioned earlier when you looked down the road from the archway just outside our house you would see the back gate, this was the gate which we used to go through when we had to go to school, to get through this gate you had to have a security pass, how many times we lost those passes, it got so bad that in the end they decide it was too much of a problem to keep reissuing them to us so they gave it up as a bad job and did not give them to us anymore, (maybe the Germans should have employed us as eventually we could come and go as we pleased) most of the guards on duty eventually got to know us, but it was big trouble if there was a new guard on duty at the Back Gate and he had not been given the information about the "Children of the Park", of course his excuse would be that "I WAS ONLY DOING ME DUTY SAH" in stopping three little brats from trying to get into the Park, as he probably thought to have a good time playing about in the woods, no way would he let us "ENTER", also of course like most children of this period we looked exactly like German spies. So we would have to walk all the way around to the Main Gate and, not knowing our way home from there, or even being allowed to go into the park alone, the guard would have to phone our mother who would come and fetch three children with tears streaming down their faces. After a while it became quite something to have an armed soldier watching over us until we were collected.

When we went to school in Church Green Road, we would go out by the Back Gate, across Rickley Lane and through a spinney to the gate, which lead to St Mary's churchyard, through the gate and down the drive pass the memorial of the First World War, then on down Church Green Road to the recreation park by the school for a quick swing or a ride on the roundabout before classes began.

Then all too soon the school bell would ring and we would have to go into the old classrooms with the high ceilings, with those old dusty wooden beams and in the middle of the room were the "Pot Bellied" fires, which were supposed to keep the whole room warm but we would still try and get the desks, you remember those desks they were all in one with the inkwell in, nearest to the fire, and all the older children seem to vie to be the 'Ink Monitor', a job which I shunned away from, as it was in my opinion the dirtiest thing to do, if it was the cleanest the teacher wouldn't let the kids do it.

I always seemed to get very dirty at school (even though I steered clear of being the 'Ink Monitor') with all of those games during playtime and of course mum would ask for my clothes so she could wash them and she would then have to go through the pockets to empty them, this she always did with care as she would never know what she might find, she really did not know what wonders she was about to find, things all small boys cherish. The odd piece of string, it had so many uses, it was the spare conker string, or to tie up your shoe when the lace was broken, and a broken lace always seemed to happen because of the games we used to play, it was a make believe lasso, it was so many different things in a child's mind.

There was the cap bomb; this was a small teardrop shaped piece of lead, cut in half at the middle to give you a top and a bottom so the caps could be placed inside, and it was held together with, what else, but with the ever useful piece of string, and then when you threw it into the air and it went as high as you could see, it would drop down to earth and land with such a noise, the caps would explode just like a real bomb, or so you thought.

Then there was the Almond nut whistle; the Almond was rubbed against a wall as you walked home from school, by doing this you would make one end flat until a small hole appeared, then you would make another hole on the side near the hole at the end, this was also achieved by rubbing the nut against the top corner of the brick wall, and what you ended up with was a nice little whistle.

What was the other things mum would find in my pockets? Well now let me see, there was the penknife, spare wheels for my Dinkey Toy's, half eaten toffee's, exploding caps for my bomb, a Dinkey Toy racing car, the fastest in the school I might add, a very small stub of a pencil, some screwed up paper, for that very important note you may have to pass to a classmate, or a girl friend! And a few other items, which always seemed to come in handy, or at least I thought they would, but mum always had different Ideas.

After school had finished and we had managed to get back into the park, we had our tea and then we would sometimes go with mum and dad to the club house they used to run which was situated next to the Mansion, it was in a long old hut, which had a couple of billiard tables in the room on the left as you went in, a long lounge to the right with the bar at the far end, beyond this was a dance room, which is where I would spend a lot of my time playing records of all of the best bands of the time, Glen Miller, Ted Heath (no not the ex -prime minister) Al Bowlly singing with the Ray Fox Band, Benny Goodman and so many more, in fact I still have and love some of these records and play them, they bring back so many memories and in some way seem to have a soothing action and bring back some lovely recollections, in the evenings sometime there would be dances and of course I would be invited to put the records on.

Other times I would sit just inside the bar and one of the ladies, her name was Moira, (the good things just seem to stick in your memory, because she was a very beautiful woman) who was stationed in the park, she would always come straight to talk to me, I think this was my first love I was about Eight years old at the time, we mature early in our family, but as usual I took a lot of stick from my brother and sisters over it.

My brother Bobbie told us once about two men who worked on the code breaking called Nick and Willie one day they came into the club house and bought a couple of pints of beer, then they raised their glasses and said "Here's to 66-44", we never did understand what the importance was of what they were saying at the time, at least not until after the war, when it was explained as the date of the invasion into Europe "6th of June 1944".

We always seemed to have great snowy winters; the snow was so deep it nearly came over the top of our Wellingtons, and then we would build the big snow castles on the lawn opposite the Mansion and waylay the people who worked in the park with snowballs as they went to have lunch and then on there return from the canteen. I think this was such a diversion from the work they did all day, listening to the radios and trying to fathom out which codes were in use at that time, sometimes we would get chased all over the park with people trying to hit us with snowballs.

Come the Christmas time Mum and Dad would make the largest cracker I have ever seen it must have been at least six feet in length and eighteen inches in diameter, they would take all of the explosive bangers from the small crackers these were then put into the large one so when Jean and Faye (they always had to pull it, because they were twins and the only two at the same size, Jean was the eldest of the twins, anyway, they would pull it apart and the presents would drop down on the ribbons, these were made just the right length for each person in the family.

Some of the Christmas presents we used to get, were nothing really fancy just a few things which mum and dad managed to put together, a couple I remember, one was a boat in the shape of a freighter which was made by some of the men who worked opposite the motor pool workshops, I think they were to do with the maintenance department for the Ministry of Works, the man in charge, if I remember was called Mr Watson, this boat was one of the best presents I think I have ever received, the bow and the stern were made of solid wood, and the two sides, decks and the bottom were pieces of plywood, the superstructure was made of assorted pieces of wood, and the bridge was in two layers with the funnels fitting in between some of these pieces, and underneath in what I suppose you would call the hold was a cut down mouse trap, when loaded and the spring held in place by a round peg of wood which protruded through the side of the boat about a quarter of an inch from the bottom, this was just the right height so when a large marble was rolled at it and if you were good enough to hit this peg, then the decks and the superstructure would be thrown up into the air just like a real exploding ship, just the right sort of toy for a young boy to have during wartime.

Then there was the large Ludo set which was made so we could take it outside in the summer onto the lawns, this was made from a large square of canvas, about eight feet square, with all of the sections painted on in bright colours, the counters were made from round bits of plywood which were also painted the same colours as the sections, then the dice was a block of wood about six inches square. Many a great game was played with this out on the lawns with sandwiches and soft drinks and just laying there listening to the skylark鈥檚 high overhead.

We used to have some great Christmas and New Year parties at No 2 Cottage, when the front door was never closed to people who had to work during these holidays - for some it was just to far to travel or they no longer had homes or families to celebrate with, they were always made welcome by the whole family.

There would be a knock at the front door and Mum or Dad would open it and let whoever was there in, no explanation was ever required it was a place where people always felt welcome, a drink, maybe of beer or if they had to go back to work, a soft drink put into their hands, and they were told to make them at home; the beer was from three old wooden type barrels set up in the hallway, you would just have to go and help yourselves as no one would wait on you, as Dad would say 'fill yer boots and make yourself at home, we don鈥檛 stand on ceremony here, you want something you get it', so it was just drink and sing-along to some of the records of the period, or with Mum or Bob playing at the piano in one of the other rooms, sometimes these parties would go on for three or four nights, as there was always someone new arriving, so you see the youngsters of today were not the first to enjoy all night parties.

Each year there was always a dance, Christmas and New Year, held at the Wilton Hall, which our father ran for a period of time, at one of these I remember our brother Bobbie drew the Disney faces and characters, which were on brown paper and about six to seven feet tall, the big Father Christmas with some of his helpers were at the back of the stage and Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy and the rest were situated between the windows all around the hall, some balloons were going to be let out of the trapdoor, which was set high in the ceiling, above the floor, Bobbie was to go up at midnight and let them loose on the stroke of twelve, but the caretaker insisted that he went up with Bob to make sure he didn't fall through, well it never turned out quite like that, it was the caretaker who nearly fell through and our brother hanging on like mad to keep him from falling, but the moment was lost as this let everyone know that the balloons were about to be let out of the trapdoor, I remember our brother new some very choice words for his age, that caretaker was called everything under the sun, also his parents were also to blame for some of his inadequacies.

The thing I remember best was the VE service, which was held on the lawn in front of the Mansion with all of the flags flying, people dancing and singing it was just like people were making up for all of the parties that had been denied them throughout the war, and with the end of the war at last they really let their hair down.

In a way I am grateful I lived through this period of time, the events which happened, the beautiful music of the period, i.e. Glen Miller, the Dorsey Brothers, Frank Sinatra, The Andrews Sisters and so many more, the people I met, who did so much for our country but remained quiet about there achievements, the trust and camaraderie, also to know in some way that the family I was part of played such an important roll in the history of this world.

But the one thing I remember most of all during the period after the war, was we didn't have to be quiet anymore when the phone rang.

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