Jay is actually working with Bletchley Park as part of a project for University. He studies Interactive Digital Technologies, and his group have been challenged with a way to make the site more interactive and exciting. I won't go into the details of his idea yet (mostly because it's still very much a concept, not a design!) but we've had a couple of brainstorming sessions about it where he has bounced his ideas off me and I helped him land a pretty exciting idea. We decided to go along and get season passes today so we could explore the park together and figure out what would go where and such, and as a history student I was pretty excited to be going along.
I'm not going to lie. I was pretty disappointed. BUT, I see this as a good thing. There were a lot of spaces that could be utilised, a lot of dry information and I don't see children being interested in this at all, which is exactly where I think Jay's project is going to be perfect. If I, a second year history student with the benefit of a local connection, was not hooked, then what chance does an eight year old have?
What it lacked in interest, however, it more than made up for in props. A lot of the park I shuffled around feeling awkward because it was super quiet and I was incredibly aware of the staff in the room (which might have contributed to me just not being in the mood for a museum - I can't see why else I didn't like it because I love museums!) but whenever we found we were on our own and around props which weren't nailed down (literally), I grabbed them, pulled silly faces [I was mostly trying to look like Churchill] and made the most of our time. Okay so it wasn't the most exciting morning, but it was awesome to spend some time together without worrying about kids or animals, and just have a bit of fun on our own for a bit.
Sitting at Alan Turing's typewriter
Pondering the Enigma code at Turing's desk
One of the interactive activities was to turn a dial until you heard morse code, then work out what three letters were being spelled
An entirely photoshoppable image of me pretending to ring a fire bell
Standing very matronly next to a phone
Evidently outraged on the phone
Using another interactive exhibit. Blurry pic but my hair looks good so who cares ;)
I believe this was an attempt to look like Churchill...
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