Rozanne Medhurst

I was 19 in 1942 when I was driven there by my father I left my billet with the Dickens family. I had heard of Bletchley Park from my father who was then Air vice Marshal Medhursk R.A.F who was then head of R.A.F Intelligence at the Air Ministry. I had no idea where on Bletchley Park I was waiting to be called up by the W.A.A.F’S when I became 19. So I was delivered to my billet at mid-day the owners were Bert and Molly Dickens, they had 2 boys, Richard 3 and Tom 9. They lived in a council house and there I too was to live for the next 3 years. We all became lifelong friends. Bert drove a lorry everyday from London and Molly was a farmer’s daughter and a house wife. They were so kind to me, and never seemed to mind that their home had been invaded by me! My reason for being accepted by the park was because I spoke Italian, so I was put into the R.A.F section deadly like the Italian Air Forces. I became a De-codest; I did this job for the next 3 years. It was hard work. We worked in ‘shifts’, 8.30 -12, then till 6pm, 4 –midnight, midnight till 8am. I used to bicycle in to the park from fenny Stratford every day or night. I was first in Hut A (the hut at the far end of the tennis court) (How inhibited) then I moved to a brick block, newly built (near the lake) then to hurly built block in the far field. ‘F’ I think we moved into in 1943 (December I think). In my section worked Josh Cooper the Brilliant code breaker, hedger section (friend of my father) Jo Houper. He was 28, very clever and a performer at the Camden Chair of Roman History in Oxford.  Tom Boase was another code-breaker at administration (he was helping the recently formed history of art in London, 2 other de-codest’s Margaret Sawyer and Rhonda Welstord also brilliant.