October 2026

After exploring Bletchley Park Trust’s official Oral History collection in last month's episode, we found ourselves reflecting on another remarkable archive: the conversations we've recorded over more than a decade of podcasting.

Since 2012, the Bletchley Park Podcast team has had the privilege of meeting and interviewing more than 160 Veterans at reunions, book launches, exhibition openings and special events. Many of those encounters captured personal stories, reflections and recollections that might otherwise have been lost.

In this episode, we've revisited that archive and selected eight memorable voices. Their stories offer a fascinating glimpse into what life was like at Bletchley Park, along with some fond memories for us, and for them.

Grateful thanks to the Veterans whose voices appear in this episode:

Margaret Thomas
Doris Moss
Audrey Hodges
Nancy Pomfrey
Flo Cole
Mary Watkins
Betty Webb
Marigold Freeman-Attwood

Image: ©Will Amlot for the Bletchley Park Trust

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma, #Codebreaker,

September 2026

Most of the wartime staff at Bletchley Park were serving away from their homes and loved ones. But almost nobody actually lived on site. So where were they housed, and how were they fed? Billets - assigned living quarters - had to be found in the local area. These could vary enormously in quality, and the many different reminiscences of Bletchley Park's Veterans reflect this.

In this episode, Erica Munro, Head of Content at Bletchley Park Trust and Research Officer, Dr Thomas Cheetham, get to grips with the pressures involved in finding bed and board for thousands of staff, during a time of national strife. We also hear from more than a dozen Veterans who shared their experiences and memories as part of Bletchley Park Trust's oral history project.

Grateful thanks to the Veterans whose voices appear in this episode:

Miss Joan Ireland
Mrs Joan Joslin
Mrs Marjorie Campbell
Mrs Rozanne Colchester
Mrs Mary Kenyon
Miss Phyllis Keates
Mr Arthur Maddocks
Mrs Jean Evans
Mrs Sylvia Johnson
Mrs Gabrielle Kingaby
Miss Sheila Willson
Mrs Betty Balfour
Mrs Brenda Abrahams
Mrs Gwendoline Herbert

Image: Three women inside Hut 147, Church Green camp: L-R Audrey Wilkinson, Paddy Payne and ‘Flynn’. ©Bletchley Park Trust 2026

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma, #Codebreaker,

August 2026

Bletchley Park Trust was proud to celebrate our first 'Polish Codebreaking Festival' in July 2026 with over 2,000 members of the public, musicians and Polish community groups on site.

We also welcomed a group of experts whose works bring attention to tales of Polish wartime heroism and intelligence achievements. Of course, Team Podcast took the opportunity to speak to some of them! This episode is a compilation of fascinating short interviews with podcast producer Mark Cotton, helping us continue to shine a light on these lesser-known Polish stories.

• Bletchley Park’s CEO, Iain Standen, gives us the background to the weekend and shares news of forthcoming exhibitions.
• Award-winning author Clare Mulley discusses her research into two women who risked their lives working in espionage and resistance for the Polish cause.
• Historian, cryptologist and author Dr Marek Grajek considers the Polish work on German Enigma in the context of the later Allied victory.
• Sir Dermot Turing delves deeper into the famous 1939 Pyry conference and its legacy within British codebreaking.
• And Dr Maksym Kempinski from the Enigma Cipher Centre in Poznan reveals more about those Polish codebreakers that tend to get overlooked.

Grateful thanks to the Polish Cultural Institute in London, and the Embassy of the Republic of Poland for their support of the Polish Codebreaking Festival.

Music performed by the Mazury Dance Company Choir.

©Bletchley Park Trust 2026

#BPark, #Bletchleypark, #WW2, #Enigma, #Codebreaker,#Poland,