[GreenKeys] Bletchley Park

[Craig Sawyers]

> Gents,
> 
> I have not been able to find a reference anywhere that gives any details
on
> this. The BBC web page is very vague. Could you please point me in the
right
> direction?
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Geoff.

All the details are in the video segment - but I suspect that might not be
possible to get outside the UK.  Basically it is one guy in tears because
after taking visitors around Colossus (which he was not allowed to do; see
below) he was called to Standen's office and dismissed.  It showed another
guy who had been given his marching orders (remember these guys are unpaid
volunteers) clearing out the display cabinet of his own personal Churchill
memorabilia into cardboard boxes.  Then there was an interview with Standen,
in which he said that to enhance the visitor experience the site had to move
with the times, and those who would not fall in line had to go.

This is all down to a major league dispute between the Bletchley Park Trust,
who own the site, and the National Museum of Computing where Colossus and
Tunny and all the related equipment and galleries are.  Basically the
relationship used to be pretty positive - the NMOC paid a rent, the ticket
price was split between the Trust and the NMOC and everything worked.  Then
Standen, and ex-military guy, took over as the Trust's CEO and all hell
broke loose.  The Trust now claim that the NMOC owe them £200k in historic
debt; they claim part ownership of Colossus; they refuse to collect money on
the gate for NMOC so you have to pay extra to see Colossus, and the whole of
the NMOC is out of bounds to tour guides - I believe they are even
instructed not to mention its existence.

The only mention of the NMOC on the Bletchley website is buried here
http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/content/visit/whattosee/other.rhtm .  What
it does not mention is that you cannot visit the site just to see Colossus
etc - you have to pay the site entry fee at the gate, and then as a result
of Byzantine politics pay extra to see everything to do with Colossus.

The knock-on has had an effect on the Lorenz SZ42, which I restored to full
functionality around ten years ago.  During a visit to Paderborn in Germany
five years ago for a Cipher Challenge, the Germans fired it up before I
arrived and blew up the mains transformer, which was kind of ironic.  On
return I had that re-rewound.  Then Tony Sale died, and shortly afterward
Standen took over as CEO.  The problem is that formal ownership of the SZ42
is still GCHQ, and custodianship vests in the CEO.  But the location of the
machine is at NMOC.  The continuing blood on the walls dispute essentially
locks me out of repairing the only functional SZ42 on the planet.

It is a total mess, alas

Craig