Monthly Archives: June 2016

Bletchley Park, The Bombe

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Visited Bletchley Park today with Valerie and Norman.  This was definitely not the best day to go, Fathers Day.  The exhibitions were busy, overflow parking was in a nearby school.

We had been to Bletchley Park, years ago.  Several restaurants have been added since then.  With lottery funding a working Bombe machine has been recreated. This was demonstrated with an explanation on how it works.  We next viewed some excellent displays which went into greater detail of the decoding process.  I never managed to get around the whole of the site.  I will be visiting again, the tickets allow free entry for a whole year. The National Museum of Computing is on the same site.  They house the replica Colossus machine along with other old computers. This is definitely on my wish list.

Bletchley Park House

Next we walked around Bletchley Park House, where there was an exhibition of the The Imitation Game film.  This is  complete with Bombe machines used in the Benedict Cumberbatch film.  These don’t work, just the dials rotate with the electric motors behind.  The sound engineers  used the recreated Bombe for sound track on the film.  Wrens who had worked on the real machines back in World War II say it does make the correct sound.

Second Visit to Bletchely Park

We did make a second visit to Bletchely Park when Richard and Andrea visited us. Rosemary, Richard and I visited the park (Andrea was off at a Conference).  It was less busy, but still busy. This time we saw a few other huts.  One very amusing one was the use of carrier pigeons for intelligence purposes.  Did you know there had been undercover spy pigeons? Each side was shooting down pigeons, or using birds of prey.

 

Caius College Garden Party and Illuminated Caius Choirbook

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Rosemary and I visited Cambridge for the Gonville and Caius Alumni garden party.  This is a thankyou event to those alumni who donate to the college.  Despite high fees paid by undergraduates, their payments only cover half the costs.  When I was a student at Cambridge, tuition costs were fully paid, and I also received a grant for living expenses.  I feel a debt of gratitude which I now repay by donations to Caius college.  This is big business to the college, who have a set of rewards depending on the value of gifts made.

The day was a sunny day, and the city was lively with the Brexit campaign in full swing.  The city was full of those supporting the Remain campaign.  Of course the majority  of those we spoke to at the alumni party were in support of Remain.  Education and research is so bound up with freedom of movement and research grants from the EU. It is no surprise that Cambridge voted to remain. 

The food at the party was as usual excellent.  I have never seen so many prepared Cromer grabs.  Wine and fizz was available in good quantities.  After the congratulatory speeches we hastened to the Cockerell building where the Illuminated Caius Choirbook was on display.  We were also entertained to some singing from the Caius Choirbook and came away with a CD.