Like The Rest Of The Country, It Sure Was Wet !
Oxfordshire & Buckinghamshire do seem to be living under water right now, and Members' drives to Bletcvhley Park were delayed somewhat by both the wet weather and what seemed to be a preponderence of road works.
None the less, once all assembled, Andrew and Sally Baines' SS100 was driven up to the Mansion and parked outside, garnering much interest from the public - many of whom seemed to be french schoolchildren who soundede ready to sustain the popularity of Jaguars in France !
Menawhile, the other Members and their Jaguars were taken through to an area out aside for us, inside the secure perimeter where a brave show of Jaguars and Oxfordshire Region Flags then ensued.
And as those attending progressed around the site, the Region Umbrellas promoted the Region and Club very effectively.
But The Rain Did Not Really Affect The Enjoyment !
A useful feature of Bletchley Park is that nearly all of the essentials are indoors. Even those who had been before noted how much restoration has been done, how much more there is now to see but also how the extra information doesn't always help to grasp the fundamentals...
Clearly code and cipher breakers are just as bad as Classic Car Enthusiasts when it comes to jargon. Getting a handle on ciphers versus codes, enigmas and lorenze, cribs, crabs, lobsters, banburyismuses, turingmus, herivel tips, huts that became blocks (seemingly well built in just weeks) but still referred to as huts, BTM and IBM, Bombes versus Holleriths versus Colossi, was fascinating.
What respect is still due to those who achieved so much and (in some experts' eyes) shortened WWII by two years.
A Good Visit Can Be Marked By New Learning
It is well known that women and men were on equal terms at 'BP', even if Turing was persecuted in the 50s. But who know that the fledgling (now great) IBM traded with both sides throughout WWII ?
Who knew that Japanese messages were 'broken' at BP too ? Who knew that staff there could be billeted as much as 30 miles awat abd still worked a 12-hour day (minimum) 6 days a week and got real leave only 4 times a year ?
Not perhaps the most obvious place for a JEC Region to trip out to, but absolutely worth it !
And next week - in a wonderful contrast - the JEC Oxfordshire Region will be touring a Brewery (and tasting its product) !
