You reported on the death at the age of 99 of one of the last surviving female Bletchley Park codebreakers, Margaret Betts (6 September). My mother, Joan Hughes (née Williams), now still a lively 98-year-old, also served at Bletchley Park after enlisting in the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRNS) aged 18.
Joan was a scholarship girl at Blackburne House in Liverpool and, after her enlistment interview, she was held for higher-level clearance in Leeds for two weeks while all the other recruits were allocated elsewhere. On heading to Bletchley Park and her billet at Woburn Abbey, she thought it might be the seaside, being near “Sandy, Bedfordshire”.
Like Margaret, Joan worked in the Japanese cipher huts, on four‑hour shifts due to the intensity of the work with the hot and noisy machines. Her focus was on passing any recognisable code patterns on for analysis. Much, much later she would tell us that the station knew something (D-day) was looming by the change in traffic.
Joan enjoyed the off-duty life at Woburn Abbey, in spite of being quartered in the freezing cold servants’ rooms in the attic of the big house. She took part in the dances with the “American boys” from the nearby US air force bases, including one memorable occasion when she danced in front of the Glenn Miller band. Joan got to know the area by cycling all over with other servicewomen in the WRNS, and took part in plays they performed.
Inevitably, at 98, some memories have faded and those remaining are tinged with nostalgia, but, as for many others, wartime was a formative experience. It gave her the motivation and confidence to train as an infant teacher when she returned to civilian life in Liverpool. Joan is now counting the months to her 100th birthday.
Gwilym Hughes
Littlehampton, West Sussex
• Have an opinion on anything you’ve read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
