 | Bletchley Park TourA and B Blocks It is estimated that between 10,000 and 12,000 people worked in the Park at the height of its activity. The vast majority were women. From 1941, a series of brick buildings were hastily constructed to accommodate the overspill from the wooden huts. A Block and B Block were the earliest brick buildings. A Block housed the naval sections which had outgrown Huts 4 and 8. Following Germany's invasion attempt in 1940, the fear of gas attack was still very real. A Block was given protective measures not found elsewhere on the Park, including hermetically sealing doors and heavy window blinds. B Block included offices known as the Testery, after the man in charge Ralph Tester, which were set up to exploit breakthroughs into the Lorenz cypher. Today, A Block is home to a variety of Special Interest and Living History Groups. Extensive collections of memorabilia include aviation, fire-fighting and cinema equipment, military uniforms, and a display dedicated to Sir Winston Churchill. Members of a local amateur radio club man the GB2BP Radio Room. Many of the exhibitors seek to re-enact as well as preserve history, bringing the past to life and honouring the achievements of the WWII heroes to whom we owe so much. Some of these Groups can be seen out and about around the site when the Park is open to the public. B Block has now been turned into a new exhibition centre telling the Bletchley Park story. It was opened by HRH The Duke of Kent on the 10th June 2004. |
