Bletchley Park's bitter dispute over its future

[Jimbuna]

This was on the BBC News last night and whilst I can understand the business case for change, surely a compromise befitting the volunteers can be found.

Click on the video link for the detail surrounding the dispute.

The groundbreaking intelligence work carried out at Bletchley Park during the second world war was credited with bringing forward the end of the conflict.

In 2011 the site was awarded a £4.6m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).

But Bletchley is currently in the throes of a bitter dispute, between owners who want to create a brand new visitors centre, and volunteers who have been working on the site for years.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25886961

[Wolferz]

That's truly sad, Jim.

I don't think they could ever truly replace an experienced tour guide.
I cite the Beefeater at the tower as an example...

[Jimbuna]

Precisely....this has come about because of the business package they have had to produce and the hoops they have had to jump throgh to obtain the funding.

A part of me hope it fails but sadly that would bring with it a loss of some very important historical heritage.

[STEED]

Some what a high handed attitude...Not very nice toward volunteers who give up there free time and some of them are getting on in life.

I have visited Bletchley two times and on the second visit the paying in entrance had changed for the better.

[vienna]

It is sad when "business considerations" trump genuine dedication and a desire to preserve not only a monument to those who did so much to hasten the end of the War, but also to those whose innovation, imagination, and resoucefulness gave the entire world the basis of the technological wonders we enjoy today. The whole of Bletchley's success and enduring legacy was the result of some very odd (to the rest of the world) and gifted people. The so far continued existence and preservation of the Park has been the result of the work of people who gave of themselves and their lives. Shame on the "bean counters" and those of their ilk who would try to shove then aside...


<O>

[Buddahaid]

Interesting in a depressing way. I've always envied the British and their sense of history, but I see the walls have been breached and my trust proven tainted.

You contact a long standing company in the USA and they haven't a clue what they made a hundred years ago, or fifty years ago, or even twenty years ago in anything but the most general way, but I always thought, perhaps mistakenly, that one could find records of what some British company made two hundred years ago without much effort. It must be the Union Jack colored glasses I've worn.

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by vienna

It is sad when "business considerations" trump genuine dedication and a desire to preserve not only a monument to those who did so much to hasten the end of the War, but also to those whose innovation, imagination, and resoucefulness gave the entire world the basis of the technological wonders we enjoy today. The whole of Bletchley's success and enduring legacy was the result of some very odd (to the rest of the world) and gifted people. The so far continued existence and preservation of the Park has been the result of the work of people who gave of themselves and their lives. Shame on the "bean counters" and those of their ilk who would try to shove then aside...


<O>

Originally Posted by Buddahaid

Interesting in a depressing way. I've always envied the British and their sense of history, but I see the walls have been breached and my trust proven tainted.

You contact a long standing company in the USA and they haven't a clue what they made a hundred years ago, or fifty years ago, or even twenty years ago in anything but the most general way, but I always thought, perhaps mistakenly, that one could find records of what some British company made two hundred years ago without much effort. It must be the Union Jack colored glasses I've worn.

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