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This story is submitted by a volunteer on behalf of Radio Bristol Action Desk at City of Bristol College.

When the news of the outbreak of war was transmitted over the wireless, my parents put their arms around each other and said “there can’t be another war.” I was called up into the Wrens and the training consisted of uniform fitting, lectures and countless injections. At the time they needed more woman in the forces to relieve the men from duty. After arriving at the majestic gates of Woburn Abbey I was sent to Bletchley Park on a bus of chattering Wrens and promptly made to sign the Official Secrets Act. I was made to tell anyone who asked that I was performing ‘Clerical Work.’
Inside Bletchley Park I was stationed in a room with eight top linguists from Oxford and Cambridge who were decoding German messages into English. The messages were from U-Boat commanders detailing convoy sightings and locations of the German fleet. I had to give these documents very careful checks because a Map Reference 6 is very different to 8 and could have grave and hugely important consequences. The messages were sent to Admiralty who chose the urgency of the decoded messages. I had no idea of the end result of these messages, but it is often said that with the decoding of Bristolian Gordon Welchman, the war ended a lot sooner.
My husband didn’t even know about my wartime, top-secret ‘Clerical’ duties until 1993!

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