Captain Ridley's Shooting Party

When: Sunday 7th August, 10:00

Where: Uttoxeter Racecourse, ST14 8BD

Join the mega:MK team for a morning of tea, cake and puzzles! We’ll provide the tea and puzzles and we’ll be selling the cake to raise funds for 2023. The mega:MK committee were born out of the BBH (Beds Bucks and Herts Geocachers) and you’ll have seen us over a number of years in our Team Cake gear. 

Many of you will be aware of Alan Turing and the other codebreakers at Bletchley Park during WWII which featured on the first supporters coin that mega:MK released.

Bletchley Park is one of the gems in Milton Keynes’ crown and our story for today goes back to 1938 and the first set of people who would go on to form the famous codebreakers. 

Bletchley Park had been bought by Admiral Hugh Sinclair, Director of GC&CS and SIS (the forerunner to GCHQ), in May 1938. It was perfectly placed next to a major railway junction, with connections to the North and the South of England, as well as the so-called ‘Varsity line’, connecting the university towns of Oxford and Cambridge, where so many of the Codebreakers’ were recruited. 

In September 1938 in response to impending war a group of 150 of the best brains in Britain were invited to “Captain Ridley’s Shooting Party” to be held at the stately home. This was the cover under which their wartime exploits would begin. Many codebreakers would be recruited for their ability to solve puzzles and we’d like to invite you to come and take part in a morning of puzzling for all ages, from the more straightforward to the more devious.

Like the codebreakers you’ll need refreshments and what you might also not be aware of, is that in 1953 Tetley first started producing the teabag in the UK, in Milton Keynes. 

Puzzles, tea, cake, what’s not to like? Please log a Will Attend so that we have a good idea on numbers.

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