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Christmas Cheer

Bletchley Park and its Outstations celebrated six Christmases during World War Two. Christmas was no holiday for the Codebreakers – their work continued at pace over the period. For example, the Germans often changed their Enigma settings on the first day of the month and the build-up to January 1st was as anxious as that for any month. Where work commitments allowed, though, Christmas could still be made to feel special, with parties, dinners, and revues.

This Collections uncovered album was first published on 20 December 2018.

This well-produced programme, with an embossed emblem on the front cover, accompanied the Beaumanor Wireless Interception station’s 1942 Christmas party. Those who worked at Beaumanor were not the only Wireless Interception station staff to refer themselves as exiles.

Beaumanor’s 1942 Christmas celebrations were quite grand, including two dances, a Concert Party variety show and two lots of waitress-service refreshments (a Nippy was a slang term for a waitress).

The armed forces always tried to push the boat out for Christmas. WAAFs and RAF personnel who worked at Bletchley Park were housed in the nearby RAF Church Green camp and their 1944 Christmas dinner menu features four courses and a choice of two main courses.

This parody of The Twelve Days of Christmas was written for one of the Drama Group Christmas Revues.

This airgraph (photographically reproduced message) was sent by Joan Last, an ATS member working at Bletchley Park, to Lt Cecil George at the Wireless Experimental Centre, Delhi, an Outstation of Bletchley Park. Lt George had probably met Joan at Bletchley Park, where he had worked before his posting to Delhi. Note that Joan gives her address as Box 111, one of the standard cover addresses for Bletchley Park.

This humorous denouncement of the Wireless Experimental Centre’s supposed plans for Christmas was penned by Codebreaker Basil Marston. Flying Officer John Guillmont, mentioned by Basil as being responsible for the treasure hunt, would eventually rise to the rank of Wing Commander and become the Deputy Commanding Officer of the Wireless Experimental Centre.

Basil Marston went on to create a fictional programme of events for both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. One of the highlights of the Christmas Eve schedule was the inspection of a Guard of Honour by none other than Santa Claus himself!

Basil Marston signed off his Christmas Day schedule by declaring himself the “Gruppenfuhrer, Corps of Cynics and Sceptics”, a reinterpretation of the Government Code & Cypher School’s initials.

Each Christmas the Bletchley Park Drama Group would put on a Christmas Revue. The Assembly Hall was outside the Park’s security perimeter, so events held there could also be attended by local residents.

The local Bletchley District Gazette newspaper gave a very positive review of the Group’s 1943 Christmas show, “But once a year”.

Christmas Cheer

This Collections uncovered album was first published on 20 December 2018.

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