´óÏó´«Ã½

The author of this story has understood the rules and regulations of this site and has agreed that this story can be entered on the People’s War web site.

In 1942 I was 19 years old and worked at the Co-op in Tooting. I received my call-up papers and was sent as a typist to Bletchley Park.

It was my first time away from home and I hated it. But I lived in a chalet with three or four other girls who were all very nice which made it a bit easier for me.

When I went to Bletchley Park I had no idea what it was for except it was part of the Foreign Office. I certainly did not know it was a code-breaking centre and had no idea of the German code machine — the Enigma.

Work at Bletchley went on day and night in three eight-hour shifts. I think they were 6.00am-2.00pm, 2.00pm-10.00pm and 10.00pm-6.00am. We worked in teams of ten with a supervisor.

When we went to work we were checked into Bletchley through a heavy security barrier manned by military policemen. We then went into our chalets and sat at our machines. We were given sheets of paper with codes on them which we typed into our machines (and it had to be done exactly as we received it, errors were not permitted). It was re-coded, usually in four-letter codes and was then taken away to another hut for further de-coding. I couldn’t make any sense of any of the codes I typed.

But we could always tell when there was a ‘push’ on, when things were hotting up, because our work-load increased substantially.

In our free time, we sat round the lake in Bletchley Park and chatted with friends, often late into the night; we also played tennis and went to dances in the house. That was really fun.

When I was demobbed in 1945, I went back to work at the Co-op and in 1948 I got married to a former military policeman — but I didn’t meet him at Bletchley Park.

We all knew we couldn’t talk to anyone about what we did at Bletchley, even long after the war ended because of the Official Secrets Act, but now I can.

© Copyright of content contributed to this Archive rests with the author. Find out how you can use this.