 Join in the family fun at Bletchley Park in Milton Keynes on Monday 25th May for a Bank Holiday ‘Forties Family Festival’, featuring Second World War re-enactors, a 1940s Lindyhopper dance troupe, wartime cinema reels and other 1940’s attractions, including the re-enactment of a wartime plotting table and a bombed-out London display.
There will be a rare opportunity to see a stunning display of World War Two airpower with a flypast by the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight*, featuring a Lancaster, Hurricane and a Spitfire; and a flypast by the Red Arrows*. There will also be lectures on a range of fascinating subjects by a GCHQ historian, a former Bletchley Park codebreaker and former Bletchley Park Wren:
'British Signals Intelligence before Bletchley Park (1653-1939)' by GCHQ’s Departmental Historian.
Wartime Bletchley Park codebreakers, Mavis and Keith Batey, give an informal Q & A session. The then 19 year old Mavis worked for Dilly Knox in ‘The Cottage’ from April 1940, before moving to Hut 6 and Hut 8. Known as one of 'Dilly's Girls', she worked on the Italian naval, Abwehr and GGG Enigma Machines. Knox paid tribute to Mavis in a poem he wrote about Bletchley Park.
Talking from personal experience, Bletchley Park volunteer, Joan Draper, will discuss her life during the war as an Evacuee.
 Bletchley Park volunteer, Jean Valentine, will talk about her life as a Wren during the War at Bletchley Park and elsewhere.
The ‘Forties Family Festival’ makes a great day out for the whole family. Under 12s are free and there is a £22.50 family annual season ticket or £10 adult season ticket, allowing free and unlimited visits to Bletchley Park for 12 months following purchase, including many special events. The event starts at 10.30am through to 5pm.
Bletchley Park was home to the codebreakers of Second World War and the birthplace of the modern computer. Today it is a museum and heritage site, with a fascinating range of permanent exhibitions and private collections. These include the famous Abwehr Enigma Machine, back on display after its dramatic theft in 2000, the Lorenz and other mechanical cipher systems and the Bombe Rebuild. The whole family will enjoy the Home Front exhibition; the Toys and Memorabilia Collection, with playthings and domestic artefacts from the 1930’s and 1940’s; the Maritime Display, Model Railway exhibition; and the various vintage vehicles, including two 1930's Austin’s featured in the film ‘The Eagle Has Landed’, a Talbot and 1938 Ambulance used in the film, ‘Enigma’.
Don’t miss the Churchill Collection, which provides a unique glimpse into the spirit of the man who famously described the workers of Bletchley Park as “The geese that laid the golden eggs - but never cackled”; the interactive Computer Museum; the Projected Picture Trust – a 1940's cinema screening wartime show reels; and the Bletchley Park Post Office, believed to have been an undercover mailroom during the war.
Bletchley Park is set in beautiful parkland with a Victorian Mansion, a lake, wildlife and a children’s play area. The restaurant located in Hut 4, former home of the Naval codebreakers, serves a full range of meals and refreshments. The gift shop sells books, DVDs, CDs, gifts and toys. Bletchley Park is easily accessible by car from the A5 and J13 and J14 of the M1. On-site parking is £3 per car and Bletchley Station, which has direct services to London Euston and Birmingham New Street, is a five minute walk.
*All Battle of Britain Memorial Flight flypasts and Red Arrow flypasts are subject to weather conditions
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