[GreenKeys] Bletchley Park

[Bruce Gentry]

On 1/25/14 7:37 AM, Bruce Gentry wrote:
> And I thought this sort of $#1+ only happened in the USA!   Dedicated, 
> priceless, and irreplaceable talent being treated like less than 
> dirt.  Worse yet, these people won't be able and may be unwilling to 
> pass their knowledge and skills on to younger people. The whole world 
> loses when this stuff happens.
>
>      Bruce Gentry   KA2IVY
>
> On 1/25/14 4:57 AM, Craig Sawyers wrote:
>>> 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
>>
>>
>>
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