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15 October 2014
WW2 - People's War

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Working At Bletchley Parkicon for Recommended story

by Simon Tobitt

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Archive List > Books > Irene Cooper's Memories

Contributed byÌý
Simon Tobitt
People in story:Ìý
Irene Cooper, Hugh Alexander, Asa Briggs
Location of story:Ìý
Bletchley Park, Nr Milton Keynes
Background to story:Ìý
Civilian Force
Article ID:Ìý
A5096847
Contributed on:Ìý
15 August 2005

"I was drafted into what is now known as GCHQ. I was there until the war ended on the 8th May. Oh gosh. It was the end of the war, May the 8th. I was at Aldershot, and Bletchley Park part of the time, but I had to resign — the children were coming back — and come back to sort of civilian life again. It was secret work. I actually rejoined an outstation at Eastcote in Middlesex in 1950, and I was there until 1953. I was living locally then. [At Bletchley Park], we were in huts, which in the winter were very, very cold. We had, sort of a coke fire in the centre, and chimney went up through the roof. And in the summer, they were just the opposite — terribly, terribly hot. I did go back there, in recent years to see, and the huts are still there at Bletchley Park, but of course it’s not part of GCHQ, because when I resigned in 1953 my department was going to Cheltenham, which is now the main station/headquarters, so I had to resign, I couldn’t go, so that was that. We used to have a party there once a year, when we could take our husbands or wives, as it might be, to mingle with the people we worked with, which was very nice. My immediate boss was Hugh Alexander, the one-time World Chess Champion. And I knew Asa Briggs, who’s now Lord Briggs, and quite a few other people. Of course it was secret work, and you couldn’t talk about it like I am talking about it now at that time. You signed the Official Secrets Act. Yes it was [difficult talking to other people], but you were sort of schooled in it, so you could round to, very carefully change the subject. They do say now that it did end the war, so a lot of good came out of it."

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