Bletchley Manor September 3rd

Yesterday, September the Third, the seventy ninth anniversary of the outbreak of World War Two, I had the privelege to visit Bletchley Manor in order to give a talk of my life as a young woman during the war years. I was able to introduce a large audience to the work of the still unknown Filter Room, the linchpin of the Radar defence of Britain and the forerunner of Air Traffic Control. This is where I worked as a Filterer Officer. No one in the audience had ever heard of the Filter Room. They had seen the TV pictures of the Operations Room, girls moving symbols around a mapped table, but it was the airwoman and WAAF Officers of the Filter Room who tracked, re-calculated positions, height and numbers of aircraft in enemy raids and produced this information. They identified friend or hostile, initiated Air Raid warnings and air-sea rescues. Time was of the essence as our small fighter force and trained pilots relied on this information to intercept at the last minute. We had also access to information from Bletchley and Y stations. Imagine my surprise when at the end I waa presented with a Certificate of Freedom to Bletchley Park and a special medal as a Veteran of a Bletchley Outstation. I was overwhelmed by this honour and to be associated in a small way with those brilliant minds of Bletchley.