[GreenKeys] Bletchley Park

[Nick England]

How very sad -
 I was fortunate enough to visit Bletchley Park a couple of times and
thoroughly enjoyed the way the many buildings also served as a home
for various serious preservationist groups, - communications
equipment, computers, military vehicles, warship models, Churchill,
etc. - all related to the main theme and purpose of wartime BP of
course. It was good to see in the video that the rebuilt Colossus
could be viewed from fairly close - when I was there, just a viewing
window into the restoration area was publicly accessible. We
discovered that sneaking around back and pressing noses against the
outside windows got a "What do you lot want?" - but explaining we were
computer designers who loved vacuum tube gear quickly brought us in
from the cold to admire the recreation and, through it, the
engineering wonder of the original.

I have the greatest admiration for the folks who restored Colossus,
Heath Robinson, and their like and it is heart-breaking to hear of
these squabbles. The history of BP in WW2 is an inspiring story of the
power of the human mind and the perseverance of the human spirit.

I hope to visit BP again and I sure hope it won't be to some
infantilized "Bletchley-world Experience" where entertainment has
replaced education and inspiration. Sigh.

Nick



On Sat, Jan 25, 2014 at 4:57 AM, Craig Sawyers
<c.sawyers at tech-enterprise.com> wrote:
>
> 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
>