Codebreakers who helped shorten WWII celebrate 100th birthdays
Two ladies who worked as codebreakers at the top secret Bletchley Park mansion during the Second World War have celebrated their 100th birthdays at a joint party.
Mrs Gwenfron Picken who was 100 on February 29 2024 and Mrs Kath Morris who reached her centenary a week later on March 7, are both from Port Talbot but Mrs Morris now lives in a care home in Neath.
Allied codebreakers
During the dark days of World War Two, both worked in the iconic huts and blocks of Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire, a Victorian mansion which housed the Government Code and Cypher School – the centre of Allied codebreaking.
The dedicated staff here worked tirelessly to penetrate the secret and devilishly complex codes of the Axis Powers – most importantly the German Enigma and Lorenz ciphers.
Although Gwenfron and Kath left Port Talbot at around the same time to join the codebreaking effort at Bletchley Park they didn’t know each other until they met at the joint birthday party organised by Jackie Bates and the local Mother’s Union at St Theodore’s Parish Hall, Port Talbot.
Key roles
The ladies were greeted at the Parish Hall by Captain Huw Williams MBE DL RLC, representing the Lord Lieutenant of West Glamorgan’s office and Finola Pickwell, the Regional Armed Forces Liaison Officer (AFLO) for this area.
Finola Pickwell said: “It was delightful the ladies could meet at last after both working during wartime at Bletchley Park.
“Those at Bletchley Park played a key role in shortening World War II by providing the Allies with a flood of high grade military intelligence which gave them the edge on land, sea and in the air.”
Although a number of codebreakers had university degrees, many of those called to work at Bletchley Park were clever, able recruits who had undergone a reasonable high school education.
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Happy birthday and well done.
The work that Bletchly did, and all the people that worked there, and all the people that led to it working, this cannot ever be forgotten or underestimated. From the Polish mathematicians that smuggled their work out with the Germans hot on their heels through Turin and Welchman and other big names to all the dispatch riders and intercept station staffers, they played a massive role in winning WWII. These ladies were part of an amazing team that did amazing things we are only recently finding out about.