Operation Bletchley: Day 31 Mission Accomplished

In the end I walked over 110 miles in January, including a couple of walks over three miles. I have seen starling murmurations, and wandered around both Criccieth and Porthmadog. I have caught plenty of Pokemon, and seen signs of spring.

The Fundraising

You can sponsor me until the end of February 2022. https://events.soldierscharity.org/fundraisers/RuthWillmore/operation-bletchley-balkans

If you would like to have a go yourself the challenge is repeated each July, and again in January, with different codes to break each time. You can try previous codes in return for a donation.

Operation Bletchley is raising money for ABF The Soldiers’ Charity, the National Charity of the British Army and you can make a real difference.

Berlin : 40 Miles

52 miles completed – daily walks

Code	Junior	Codebreaker	Cypher Expert
1	Solved	Solved	Solved
2	Solved	Solved	Solved
3	Solved	Solved	Solved
4	Solved	Solved	Solved
5	Solved	Solved	Solved
6	Solved	Solved	Solved
7	Solved	Solved	Solved
8	Solved	Solved	Solved
9	Solved	Solved	Solved
10	Solved	Solved	Solved

40+ miles walked and 30 codes broken. I gave up on the final Super Cypher code received on 29th January, just too much for my tired brain!

All three levels achieved.

The Balkans : 80 Miles

110 miles completed – every step counts

Code	Junior	Codebreaker	Cypher Expert
1	Solved	Solved	Solved
2	Solved	Solved	Solved
3	Solved	Solved	Solved
4	Solved	Solved	Solved
5	Solved	Solved	Solved
6	Solved	Solved	Solved
7	Solved	Solved	Solved
8	Solved	Solved	Solved
9	Solved	Solved	Solved
10	Solved	Solved	Solved

80+ miles walked in a month, and 30 codes broken. I paid for a clue for the Super Cypher and we got it, with a whole day to spare.

All three levels achieved

It has been great fun, good exercise physically and mentally. The codebreaking is very much a team effort with my Mum, with Zoom sessions to work together on some of the trickier puzzles.
My fourth time taking part in Operation Bletchley and I am already looking forward to the next in the summer. Why not join in? You can walk anywhere in the world and earn a medal for completing any one level. You don’t even have to walk, you can log other forms of exercise or challenge instead.

Is that a fellow spy hiding in the grass?

Operation Bletchley: Day 28 Sitrep

I carried on walking, after all I still have Pokemon to catch, and Stepbet and Waybetter challenges to make. It has been a busy week – a new job, assignments due for Strathclyde and two Pharos courses… I did fit in a bit of codebreaking, and the weekend diary is cleared to finish the mission. […]

by rhoshelygfamilyhistory 28th Jan 202228th Jan 2022

Operation Bletchley: Day 24 Sitrep

New job day! Very exciting, and not much walking or codebreaking! But I had a codebreaking session yesterday, with lots of help from Mum, and we cracked quite a lot. A walk late afternoon a few days ago to see the starling murmurations helped a lot with getting to the walking targets. The Fundraising Operation […]

by rhoshelygfamilyhistory 24th Jan 202225th Jan 2022

Operation Bletchley: Day 20 Sitrep

We have had dry but cold weather. Ideal for walking! I have a couple of longer walks planned to the weekend to should complete the walking part of the challenge with some time to spare for the final codebreaking. The Fundraising Operation Bletchley is raising money for ABF The Soldiers’ Charity, the National Charity of […]

by rhoshelygfamilyhistory 21st Jan 2022

Operation Bletchley: Day 28 Sitrep

I carried on walking, after all I still have Pokemon to catch, and Stepbet and Waybetter challenges to make. It has been a busy week – a new job, assignments due for Strathclyde and two Pharos courses… I did fit in a bit of codebreaking, and the weekend diary is cleared to finish the mission.

The Fundraising

Operation Bletchley is raising money for ABF The Soldiers’ Charity, the National Charity of the British Army and you can make a real difference. You can contribute by sponsoring me: https://events.soldierscharity.org/fundraisers/RuthWillmore/operation-bletchley-balkans The codes will be available to purchase once the challenge has finished too.

Stories below are all courtesy of Operation Bletchley and ABF The Soldiers’ Charity, not my own work.

Berlin : 40 Miles

40 miles – You Made It

My final mission from British HQ is to save a family beyond the blockade. I was dropped to Köpenick in the Soviet zone, then I made the rest of the journey on foot.

At the rendezvous, I heard singing and spotted the family clambering over a mountain of rubble near the Großer Müggelsee. I met with your contact, an Austrian Naval officer, along with his new wife and seven children. They’ve been trying to return to Salzburg since the war ended, but the activity in occupied Austria has made passage impossible.

To help them on their journey west, I threw on a nun’s outfit and armed myself with fake travel papers. I then arranged for an ambulance to escort me and the family back to the British HQ. On the way, the Naval officer shared some information about Soviet fuel and ammunition supplies from his old friends – the Baroness and Max. This will provide vital to Operation Plainfare and the Western allies.

Back at HQ, I warm up with a cup of tea while waiting for your flight home. I’m confident that I’ve collected enough intelligence to beat the Soviet blockade. But, just when I think my work is done, the Section Warrant Officer appears with one final message for me to decode. Once I’ve decoded the message, I need to brief Major General Sir (Edwin) Otway Herbert, Commander of British Forces in Berlin, on everything I’ve discovered.

40 miles completed – daily walks

Code	Junior	Codebreaker	Cypher Expert
1	Solved	Solved	Solved
2	Solved	Solved	Solved
3	Solved	Solved	Solved
4	Solved	Solved	Solved
5	Solved	Solved	Solved
6	Solved	Solved	Solved
7	Solved	Solved	Received
8	Solved	Solved	Solved
9	Solved	Solved	Puzzling….
10	Solved	Solved	Received

The Balkans : 80 Miles

80 miles completed – every step counts

Code	Junior	Codebreaker	Cypher Expert
1	Solved	Solved	Solved
2	Solved	Solved	Mum got it!
3	Solved	Solved	Solved
4	Solved	Solved	Solved
5	Solved	Solved	Solved
6	Solved	Solved	Solved
7	Solved	Solved	Solved
8	Solved	I have the answer but don’t understand how!	Solved
9	Solved	Solved	Solved
10	Solved	Solved	Received

I am still battling a few Cypher Expert codes – another code breaking session is required this weekend, and possibly one or more £5 clues from HQ. The Facebook group for the challenge may have some hints too.

Enemy agents?

Operation Bletchley: Day 31 Mission Accomplished

In the end I walked over 110 miles in January, including a couple of walks over three miles. I have seen starling murmurations, and wandered around both Criccieth and Porthmadog. I have caught plenty of Pokemon, and seen signs of spring. The Fundraising You can sponsor me until the end of February 2022. https://events.soldierscharity.org/fundraisers/RuthWillmore/operation-bletchley-balkans If […]

by rhoshelygfamilyhistory 31st Jan 202212th Feb 2022

Operation Bletchley: Day 16 Sitrep

Halfway through. It has been cold and wet, but we have finally had a couple of nice days where walking hasn’t felt like a chore. The Fundraising Operation Bletchley is raising money for ABF The Soldiers’ Charity, the National Charity of the British Army and you can make a real difference. Established amongst the planning […]

by rhoshelygfamilyhistory 15th Jan 202217th Jan 2022

Operation Bletchley: Day 12 Sitrep

Over one third of the way through. It has been cold and wet, but we have finally had a couple of nice days where walking hasn’t felt like a chore. The Fundraising Operation Bletchley is raising money for ABF The Soldiers’ Charity, the National Charity of the British Army and you can make a real […]

by rhoshelygfamilyhistory 12th Jan 202213th Jan 2022

Operation Bletchley: Day 24 Sitrep

New job day! Very exciting, and not much walking or codebreaking! But I had a codebreaking session yesterday, with lots of help from Mum, and we cracked quite a lot. A walk late afternoon a few days ago to see the starling murmurations helped a lot with getting to the walking targets.

The Fundraising

Operation Bletchley is raising money for ABF The Soldiers’ Charity, the National Charity of the British Army and you can make a real difference. Established amongst the planning for D-Day in 1944, the charity was created to ensure that every soldier, veteran and family member in need receives the help they require.

You can contribute by sponsoring me: https://events.soldierscharity.org/fundraisers/RuthWillmore/operation-bletchley-balkans The codes will be available to purchase once the challenge has finished too.

Stories below are all courtesy of Operation Bletchley and ABF The Soldiers’ Charity, not my own work.

Berlin : 40 Miles

32 miles – Hiding in Plain Sight

The 903 FSS agents directed me to my next destination: the Friedrichstraße S-Bahn station. I was dropped off at the Tiergarten, only this time I was equipped with false residence papers, so I managed to pass through the Brandenburg Gate in the Soviet zone without any trouble.

I walked two miles to the rendezvous, where I was suddenly accosted by border police of the Hauptabteilung Grenzpolizei und Bereitschaften. I noticed that they all looked clean, healthy and well-fed. Just as planned, one of the policemen made an extravagant display of roughing me up and checking my papers before forcing me to pay a fine. He then handed me a receipt and sent me on my two mile journey back to the pick up point. 

The receipt was a coded message about the border police. It confirmed that the Soviets have been trying to keep them loyal to stop a flood of refugees moving from East to West. It seems that Soviet efforts to damage the West are being disrupted by their own problems.

Back at HQ, I find a second coded message in myback pocket. The policeman must have dropped it in without me noticing.

Day 21	21st January 2022	2.26 miles walked
Day 22	22nd January 2022	3.06 miles walked
Day 23	23rd January 2022	1.54 miles walked
Day 24	24th January 2022	2.07 miles walked

42.04 miles walked 0 miles to go

Code	Junior	Codebreaker	Cypher Expert
1	Solved	Solved	Solved
2	Solved	Solved	Solved
3	Solved	Solved	Solved
4	Solved	Solved	Solved
5	Solved	Solved	Solved
6	Solved	Solved	Solved
7	Solved	Solved	Received
8	Received	Solved	Solved
9	Solved	Solved	Puzzling….
10	Will receive tomorrow	Will receive tomorrow	Will receive tomorrow

The Balkans : 80 Miles

80 miles – The Home Straight

Blighty beckoned. It had been a cold, arduous journey through war-torn Yugoslavia. Now I had to race to deliver Fungus’s intel.

The airstrip is north of enemy-occupied Glamoč at Opačić. So I found a meandering route through the mountains to stay out of sight. The sun continued to shine across the region, turning the snow to slush. At one point, I leapt to the side to dodge a Ustashi patrol and ended up face down in an ice-cold pool of snow melt. So I moved faster than ever to keep my body warm.

Things didn’t get much better when I reached the airstrip. I was held at bayonet-point by a nervous partisan teenager. But the person in command quickly came to diffuse the situation. It was none other than the partisan leader, Tito. He outlined his offensive plans throughout the spring before giving me another coded message to solve on my journey home.

DELIVERING THE MESSAGE

I flew to the island of Vis on a Lysander before boarding a Halifax bomber to Marrakech via southern Italy. It was the warmest I’d felt in days! I was swiftly escorted to meet with the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, who was recovering in his bed after falling ill in Tunis. Churchill explained that he’ll be flying to Gibraltar shortly, before attending Prime Minister’s Question Time. So the intel I gathered in Yugoslavia will be essential to his plans.

Question is: have I managed to crack all the codes so I can deliver the final message to Winston Churchill?

Answer is: Junior and Codebreaker – Yes. Cypher Expert – Still working on it!

Day 21	21st January 2022	3.78 miles walked
Day 22	22nd January 2022	4 miles walked

83.25 miles walked 0 miles to go

Code	Junior	Codebreaker	Cypher Expert
1	Solved	Solved	Solved
2	Solved	Solved	Mum got it!
3	Solved	Solved	Solved
4	Solved	Solved	Solved
5	Solved	Solved	Solved
6	Solved	Solved	Solved
7	Solved	Solved	Solved
8	Solved	I have the answer but don’t understand how!	Solved
9	Solved	Solved	Received
10	Solved	Solved	Received

The walking is done, I hadn’t realised that over half of my steps come from “incidental” walking rather than my daily walk and Pokemon Go playing. Those Cypher Expert codes are really difficult this time. Two out of six messages delivered, and a week to go. Apparently there is a Super-Cypher at the end too!

Operation Bletchley: Day 8 Sitrep

Operation Bletchley is raising money for ABF The Soldiers’ Charity, the National Charity of the British Army and you can make a real difference. Established amongst the planning for D-Day in 1944, the charity was created to ensure that every soldier, veteran and family member in need receives the help they require. The Fundraising It […]

by rhoshelygfamilyhistory 8th Jan 20229th Jan 2022

Operation Bletchley: Day 4 Sitrep

Operation Bletchley is raising money for ABF The Soldiers’ Charity, the National Charity of the British Army and you can make a real difference. Established amongst the planning for D-Day in 1944, the charity was created to ensure that every soldier, veteran and family member in need receives the help they require. The Fundraising It […]

by rhoshelygfamilyhistory 5th Jan 20228th Jan 2022

Operation Bletchley: Day 1 Sitrep

January 1st 2022 marks the beginning of Operation Bletchley, a fund raising challenge for The Soldiers’ Charity. I have one month to cover the miles, crack the codes and deliver the final secret message. This will be my third time taking part, after joining in the summer of 2020, 12 days of Christmas 2020 and […]

by rhoshelygfamilyhistory 1st Jan 2022

Operation Bletchley: Day 20 Sitrep

We have had dry but cold weather. Ideal for walking! I have a couple of longer walks planned to the weekend to should complete the walking part of the challenge with some time to spare for the final codebreaking.

The Fundraising

Operation Bletchley is raising money for ABF The Soldiers’ Charity, the National Charity of the British Army and you can make a real difference. Established amongst the planning for D-Day in 1944, the charity was created to ensure that every soldier, veteran and family member in need receives the help they require.

You can contribute by sponsoring me: https://events.soldierscharity.org/fundraisers/RuthWillmore/operation-bletchley-balkans The codes will be available to purchase once the challenge has finished too.

Stories below are all courtesy of Operation Bletchley and ABF The Soldiers’ Charity, not my own work.

Berlin : 40 Miles

28 miles – Cut Off

Today’s mission took meto the Villa Schöningen, close to the Glienicke Brücke. It’s being used as a hospital for Soviet soldiers, so I had to paddle by boat across the Tiefer See once more to infiltrate the Soviet zone. Spotting a patrol up ahead, I diverted down the river Havel to avoid detection and moored up in the shadows of the riverbank.

After travelling the last few miles to the villa on foot, I bribed the guards with a bottle of vodka and made my way to the rendezvous. I found my contact in the laundry room, her small child in a cot beside her. She was the British widow of a Luftwaffe officer who died in North Africa in 1942. She’s desperate to get back to England, but the blockade has cut her off from British troops.

Knowing I’m her only hope, I waited until nightfall before rowing her to the Western zone. Back at HQ, she explained details of an outbreak of disease among the Soviets. The Western allies will need to keep it at bay if they’re to successfully get supplies to Germans in the East.

As I parted ways with the refugee, I was given an important coded message from one of the 903 FSS’s agents.

Day 17	17th January 2022	1.54 miles walked
Day 18	18th January 2022	2.17 miles walked
Day 19	19th January 2022	1.5 miles walked
Day 20	20th January 2022	1.42 miles walked

33.11 miles walked 6.89 miles to go

Code	Junior	Codebreaker	Cypher Expert
1	Solved	Solved	Solved
2	Solved	Solved	Solved
3	Solved	Solved	Solved
4	Solved	Solved	Solved
5	Solved	Solved	Solved
6	Solved	Solved	Solved
7	Solved	Solved	Received
8	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
9	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
10	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received

The Balkans : 80 Miles

64 miles – Soviet Inteference

I set off in a hurry the next morning, refreshed after a good night’s sleep. It was another clear day, so I kept my head down to avoid Girbergsjager troops who had been reported enroute in Kupres.

When I arrived in Šemenovci, I was met by the local partisan leader. His group is on the Nazis’ elite troops’ line of attack. Our initial discussions are cold at best. It transpires that a Soviet military mission has become chummy with the group, and the partisan’s political commissar is aggressively anti-British.

Luckily, I had an ace in the hole: the British radio recovered from Todorići. So I quickly organized a drop of arms and ammunition from the British base on the island of Bari – a promise the Soviet’s couldn’t match.

I explained the hostile atmosphere in Šemenovci to my contact on the radio. They offered directions to a friendly hamlet nearby. On arrival, I had lunch with a fellow SOE agent who shared similar experiences of Šemenovci. He directed me to a British Major in Pribeja, codenamed Fungus. He also handed me a coded message to solve.

72 Miles – Devastation

My day got off to a shaky start. As I set off from the hamlet near Šemenovci, I was buzzed by a Nazi Fieseler Fi 156 Storch reconnaissance aircraft. Luckily, I had my weapon and radio out of sight. And since I was dressed as a peasant and walking among a small goat herd, the aircraft didn’t bother passing for a third look.

It was a harrowing walk to Pribeja. I passed through a razed village where every building was burnt or blown to smithereens. The winter sun gave the spine-tingling horrors nowhere to hide. I hurried on to Pribeja, where I was met by a British Major, codenamed Fungus, of the Inter Service Liaison Department. He had been providing intel about bomb raid targets until his radio was destroyed in an air raid. So I handed over that radio I recovered from the SOE agent in Todorići.

After sharing his intel on the radio, Fungus handed me a large package. It contained his full, coded report and a reel of photographic film that I need to take to the UK for processing. He said the airstrip near Opačić is my best bet, but the journey won’t be easy.

When I opened the package to take a closer look at the report, you found a coded message to solve.

Day 17	17th January 2022	4.44 miles walked
Day 18	18th January 2022	3.73 miles walked
Day 19	19th January 2022	4.47 miles walked
Day 20	20th January 2022	3.26 miles walked

75.47 miles walked 4.53 miles to go

Code	Junior	Codebreaker	Cypher Expert
1	Solved	Solved	Solved
2	Solved	Solved	Mum got it!
3	Solved	Solved	Solved
4	Solved	Solved	Solved
5	Solved	Solved	Solved
6	Solved	Solved	Solved
7	Solved	Solved	Received
8	Solved	Received	Received
9	Solved	Received	Received
10	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received

The end is in sight with the walking, I hadn’t realised that over half of my steps come from “incidental” walking rather than my daily walk and Pokemon Go playing. Those Balkans Cypher Expert codes are really difficult this time. Apparently there is a Super-Cypher at the end too!

What have I learned in July?

Term finished at Strathclyde at the end of June but I continued studying with Pharos. I have been learning about employment records and have been surprised at just how much there is out there. I will definitely be spending more time learning about my ancestors occupations in the future. I am now working on the […]

by rhoshelygfamilyhistory 31st Jul 20219th Oct 2021

12 Days of Christmas, Day 12

Over the 12 Days of Christmas, as we leave 2020 behind and step into 2021 I set myself 3 challenges. 12 Days Wild, to complete a daily “random act of wildness” exploring the winter wildlife. Operation Bletchley: Christmas in Berlin 24 MILES: 12 CODES: 12 DAYS. A fundraising challenge for ABF The Soldiers’ Charity which […]

by rhoshelygfamilyhistory 6th Jan 202115th Jun 2021

12 Days of Christmas, day 11

Over the 12 Days of Christmas, as we leave 2020 behind and step into 2021 I have 3 challenges in progress. 12 Days Wild, to complete a daily “random act of wildness” exploring the winter wildlife. Operation Bletchley: Christmas in Berlin 24 MILES: 12 CODES: 12 DAYS. A fundraising challenge for ABF The Soldiers’ Charity […]

by rhoshelygfamilyhistory 5th Jan 202115th Jun 2021

Operation Bletchley: Day 16 Sitrep

Halfway through. It has been cold and wet, but we have finally had a couple of nice days where walking hasn’t felt like a chore.

The Fundraising

Operation Bletchley is raising money for ABF The Soldiers’ Charity, the National Charity of the British Army and you can make a real difference. Established amongst the planning for D-Day in 1944, the charity was created to ensure that every soldier, veteran and family member in need receives the help they require.

You can contribute by sponsoring me: https://events.soldierscharity.org/fundraisers/RuthWillmore/operation-bletchley-balkans

Stories below are all courtesy of Operation Bletchley and ABF The Soldiers’ Charity, not my own work.

Berlin : 40 Miles

20 miles – Escaping The East

Today’s rendezvous was at the bombed-out Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church in Brandenburg, just a quick two-mile walk from the British HQ.

My contact was the former German military pastor who returned with the prisoner of war. He explained that he’s been helping refugees escape from the Soviet zone. He then handed over some documents and a stack of Soviet propaganda encouraging Berliners in the West to move East. Thankfully, the leaflets hadn’t proved very effective, but it’s a valuable insight into the way the Soviets think.

After searching through the pastor’s documents, I discovered another coded message. I need to cover the two miles back to HQ before deciphering. 

24 Miles Double Agent

The pastor’s information sent me to the Rykestrasse Synagogue to meet my next contact. Used by the German armed forces since its theft by the Nazis, the synagogue is now back in the care of a very small Jewish community that survived the war.

It’s in the Soviet zone, so you donned civilian clothes and hid within a small military convoy to slip beyond the blockade. After infiltrating the Pankow district, I rolled out the back of the truck and covered the last two miles to the rendezvous on foot.

There were a handful of worshippers in attendance for the Shabbat service. Amongst them was my contact: a young woman in the uniform of a junior Red Army officer. As it transpired, she was actually a Polish agent fluent in Russian – she was only using the uniform to gather information from the Soviets. Her father was murdered at Katyn and she lost a brother who fought for the Polish home army in Warsaw, so it’s safe to say she has no love for the Soviets.

She handed over a micro-film revealing important documents about the Soviets – it appears they’ve been sabotaging fuel supplies to the West. She also gave me a coded message from a refugee family in the East. I need to get these back to HQ – better dash to cover the two miles back. 

Day 13	13th January 2022	1.64 + 0.74 miles walked
Day 14	14th January 2022	1.96 miles walked
Day 15	15th January 2022	2.16 miles walked
Day 16	16th January 2022	1.22 miles walked

26.48 miles walked 13.52 miles to go

Code	Junior	Codebreaker	Cypher Expert
1	Solved	Solved	Solved
2	Solved	Solved	Solved
3	Solved	Solved	Solved
4	Solved	Solved	Solved
5	Solved	Solved	Solved
6	Solved	Solved	Solved
7	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
8	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
9	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
10	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received

The Balkans : 80 Miles

48 miles – Wet to the Bone

I left the forester’s hut behind and ventured out into the snow once more. The storm was subsiding, leaving me exposed to Chetniks and Bosnians in the region. Tensions were high after recent clashes, and I knew they wouldn’t hesitate to shoot if they suspected me for a spy. Olga had suggested a long, circuitous route to Vitoroga to help me avoid detection. But as the skies cleared, I had a clear view of armed soldiers making their rounds in the distance. So I had to dive into the deep snow a few times to avoid their sight lines.

By the time I reached Vitoroga, my clothes were soaked through, my fingers numb to the bone. Luckily, I was met by Colonel William Deakin who led me into the warm, where I quickly changed into dry clothes. He also sent one of his couriers to fetch me a much-needed cup of tea.

Colonel Deakin had fresh intel about a railway bridge that was destroyed near Velisca. The Nazis are moving in to protect their road and rail lines. But they’re spread thin with allies advancing on separate fronts through Italy and the Soviet Union. This would be valuable to my colleagues at Bletchley Park, so you called it in straight away.

As I finished off the last of my tea, Colonel Deakin briefed me on a reconnaissance mission in Todorići. I need to check if the partisans are capable of stopping Nazi road movements. Just before you set off, he also gave me a coded message to solve.

56 Miles – Under Fire

Iset off towards Todorići to assess the strength of partisan forces in the area. The road through Todorići is part of a vital route to Šipovo, so it’s essential that our friends can stop the Nazis in their tracks. Accompanied by half a dozen partisans on a supply mission, I took the opportunity to learn a little more about their dynamic leader, Tito. But just when things were starting to get interesting, my group came under fire in a small hamlet west of Vagan. Bullets ricocheted off the gravel, sending partisan fighters diving for cover left and right.

I set off down the flank, using the wall as cover, and continued on with my mission while the partisans took care of the stragglers. I was met in Todorići by the partisan leader. He’s confident of holding retreating forces for two or three days. But with more fighters and explosives, he could wreak havoc and stop a far larger enemy force.

I called in reinforcements and supplies on a British radio left by an SOE agent. My contact directed me to Šemenovci, where there are reports of a Soviet mission near the partisan base. I decided to spend the night in Todorići, so I helped the partisans build improvised anti-tank mines before getting my head down. Just as I was setting off the next morning, the partisan leader gave you another code to crack.

Day 13	13th January 2022	3.97 miles walked
Day 14	14th January 2022	3.69 miles walked
Day 15	15th January 2022	3.54 miles walked
Day 16	16th January 2022	2.58 miles walked

59.57 miles walked 20.43 miles to go

Code	Junior	Codebreaker	Cypher Expert
1	Solved	Solved	Baffled so far
2	Solved	Solved	Need a lightbulb moment!
3	Solved	Solved	Solved
4	Solved	Solved	Solved
5	Solved	Solved	Solved
6	Solved	Solved	Solved
7	Solved	Solved	Received
8	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
9	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
10	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received

Over half way through the walking now, it has been lovely to see some signs of spring. I’ve had some feline assistance (hindrance?) with code breaking, though I think Mum was more useful!

12 Days of Christmas, day 10

Over the 12 Days of Christmas, as we leave 2020 behind and step into 2021 I have 3 challenges in progress. 12 Days Wild, to complete a daily “random act of wildness” exploring the winter wildlife. Operation Bletchley: Christmas in Berlin 24 MILES: 12 CODES: 12 DAYS. A fundraising challenge for ABF The Soldiers’ Charity […]

by rhoshelygfamilyhistory 4th Jan 202115th Jun 2021

12 Days of Christmas, day 9

Over the 12 Days of Christmas, as we leave 2020 behind and step into 2021 I have 3 challenges in progress. 12 Days Wild, to complete a daily “random act of wildness” exploring the winter wildlife. Operation Bletchley: Christmas in Berlin 24 MILES: 12 CODES: 12 DAYS. A fundraising challenge for ABF The Soldiers’ Charity […]

by rhoshelygfamilyhistory 3rd Jan 202115th Jun 2021

Operation Bletchley: Day 12 Sitrep

Over one third of the way through. It has been cold and wet, but we have finally had a couple of nice days where walking hasn’t felt like a chore.

The Fundraising

Operation Bletchley is raising money for ABF The Soldiers’ Charity, the National Charity of the British Army and you can make a real difference. Established amongst the planning for D-Day in 1944, the charity was created to ensure that every soldier, veteran and family member in need receives the help they require.

You can contribute by sponsoring me: https://events.soldierscharity.org/fundraisers/RuthWillmore/operation-bletchley-balkans

Stories below are all courtesy of Operation Bletchley and ABF The Soldiers’ Charity, not my own work.

Berlin : 40 Miles

12 miles – Fair Trade

The latest intelligence led me to the former Pioneer training school of the German Army. It was the same site that the Germans signed their surrender in 1945, but now it’s being used for the Headquarters of the Soviet Military Administration. I was dropped by the Rummelsburg railway sidings dressed in a workman’s disguise, then I walked the remaining two miles on foot through the Soviet zone.

I met my contact while delivering a sack of potatoes to the kitchens. They handed me a package containing more film and coded papers, then they were gone. On my way out of the Soviet HQ, I spotted an MGB officer checking the workers’ papers. Luckily, a civilian lorry was there to help me get away. The driver took me nearly all the way back to HQ, I just had to cover the final two miles on foot. 
Back at the British HQ, I handed over the kitchen worker’s intelligence. I learned that the Ulbricht Group of East German Communists are controlling aid being sent over the Berlin Air Corridor. I also found out that journalist, Markus Wolf, has been distributing anti-western propaganda to the workforce. By stopping their activity, the Western allies can restore the fair distribution of food throughout Berlin.

At the bottom of the package, I discovered a coded message from the kitchen worker.

16 miles – Hungry Traveller

My latest journey took you to a beach near the Wannsee Villa – where the Nazi’s planned the Final Solution. The rendezvous is in the American zone, so I was able to travel in a FSS jeep without too much trouble. At least, that was the plan. The jeep broke down on a bridge over the Kleiner Wannsee, leaving me to travel the last couple of miles on foot.

I arrived safely at the beach to meet my contact. He cut a gaunt, fragile figure, and I soon realised why. He was a German prisoner of war trying to get back to the British zone after being captured by the Soviets. I rummaged through my bag to find him a corned beef sandwich. He took it gratefully and began to share his story.

The prisoner had travelled through Czechoslovakia just weeks after the coup d’etat that installed a pro-Moscow regime. On my journey back to HQ, he shares more details of his journey, but none of it proves very useful in the fight against the Soviet blockade.

Then, just when I think all hope is lost, he hands me a coded document he received from a fellow prisoner.

Day 9	9th January 2022	1.25 miles walked
Day 10	10th January 2022	1.54 miles walked
Day 11	11th January 2022	1.63 miles walked
Day 12	12th January 2022	1.29 miles walked

18.45 miles walked 21.55 miles to go

Code	Junior	Codebreaker	Cypher Expert
1	Solved	Solved	Solved
2	Solved	Solved	drawing lots of lines
3	Solved	Solved	Solved
4	Solved	Received	Received
5	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
6	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
7	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
8	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
9	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
10	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received

The Balkans : 80 Miles

32 miles – Friends in High Places

I left the shepherd’s hut behind and set off for Glavica, grateful for the growing warmth of the rising sun. Checking my map, I made my way through the dense woodland south of the plain. Trees flicked snow from their branches like dogs shaking off the rain. The snowstorm was over, at least for now.

I reached Glavica in good spirits. There was no sign of the courier’s VIP, so I struck up a friendly conversation with a local farmer who offered me a seat outside and meal of warming, hearty soup.

As I soaked up the scraps with a hunk of bread, a young and enthusiastic partisan leader arrived. He had vital information about a sabotage operation on the railway that needs extra support from allied forces. I called it in to Bletchley Park, who plan to arrange a supply drop by the RAF. Then the partisan leader led me along the road to another set of farm buildings to meet with the VIP. It was none other than the Prime Minister’s son and fellow SOE agent, Randolph Churchill.

Churchill shares details of Tito’s forces in the area and urges me to commit them to memory. I can’t afford to be caught with this information written down. He then introduces youme to one of Tito’s personal staff officers, Olga Humo, who will guide me to your next rendezvous. Just before Churchill leaves, he hands you another coded message to solve

40 Miles – Shelter From The Storm

I spent the night in Glavica to resting my legs and was woken by a howling blizzard whistling through the windows. As I sat up, rubbing the sleep from my weary eyes, there was a sharp knock at the door. It was Olga Humo, ready to lead me to my rendezvous. So I packed up your things, pulled my hat down tight and stepped out into the cold.

The storm was a welcome camouflage to protect me from Bulgarian military forces in the area. But it was also a curse – stinging and unrelenting. Along the way, I learned that Olga joined the partisans after escaping from a Ustashi prison. She was pregnant at the time. But reluctant to make her shout her story over the searing wind, I decided to leave the conversation there. I arrived in Vasici to find little more than heavy vehicle tracks and discarded rations, quickly being covered with snow. The blizzard was intensifying, so Olga led you on towards a forester’s hut in Paljevine, where you could get some respite.

Olga shared valuable information about Tito and warned me of tensions between Chetniks and Bosnians in the area. Then it was time to part ways. But before setting off for her partisan headquarters, she gave me directions to Vitoroga, where I’ll find my next contact. She also gave me a coded message to solve.

Day 9	9th January 2022	2.74 miles walked
Day 10	10th January 2022	4.31 miles walked
Day 11	11th January 2022	4.25 miles walked
Day 12	12th January 2022	3.5 miles walked

45.79 miles walked 34.21 miles to go

Code	Junior	Codebreaker	Cypher Expert
1	Solved	Solved	Baffled so far
2	Solved	Solved	Need a lightbulb moment!
3	Solved	Solved	Solved
4	Solved	I thought I could	Solved
5	Solved	Received	Received
6	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
7	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
8	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
9	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
10	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received

Over half way through the Balkans, but not quite halfway to Berlin. I had better do some longer walks!

Operation Bletchley: Day 8 Sitrep

Operation Bletchley is raising money for ABF The Soldiers’ Charity, the National Charity of the British Army and you can make a real difference. Established amongst the planning for D-Day in 1944, the charity was created to ensure that every soldier, veteran and family member in need receives the help they require.

The Fundraising

It is not too late to join me. Sign up here: https://events.soldierscharity.org/operation-bletchley

If the challenge is not for you, then you can contribute by sponsoring me: https://events.soldierscharity.org/fundraisers/RuthWillmore/operation-bletchley-balkans

Stories below are all courtesy of Operation Bletchley and ABF The Soldiers’ Charity, not my own work.

Berlin : 40 Miles

8 miles – Ruins of the Reichstag

Earlier today, we received intelligence about a package concealed in the ruins of the Reichstag – and it was my mission to find it. The building is on the fringes of the Soviet zone, so the FSS dropped me at the Victory Column in the Tiergarten and let me cover the last few miles on foot.

The area is heavily patrolled by Soviet troops, so I had to pick my way carefully through the rubbish and smashed vodka bottles that littered the streets. Despite my best efforts, I was spotted by a member of the MGB lurking beneath the Brandenburg Gate, so I picked up the pace, recovered the package and got out of there.

The package was full of camera film, so I went back to base straight away to get it developed. The photographs showed a build-up of troops in Soviet barracks, along with a number of classified documents. By monitoring the barracks and tracking troop and equipment numbers, HQ will now be able to predict any Soviet attempt to invade the Western Zones.

After handing over the photographs to my superiors, I was given another message to decode.

Day 5	5th January 2022	1.78 miles walked
Day 6	6th January 2022	1.66 miles walked
Day 7	7th January 2022	1.76 miles walked
Day 8	8th January 2022	1.22 miles walked

12.74 miles walked 27.26 miles to go

Code	Junior	Codebreaker	Cypher Expert
1	Solved	Solved	Solved
2	Solved	Solved	drawing lots of lines
3	expected 9 Jan	expected 9 Jan	expected 9 Jan
4	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
5	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
6	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
7	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
8	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
9	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
10	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received

The Balkans : 80 Miles

16 miles – Blow the Bridge

Tito’s liaison officer treated me to breakfast, then I packed up my supplies and left Jajce behind. The road to Vilišća was direct, which meant it was also heavily trafficked. So I used my map to plot a safer, if slightly more gruelling, route through the mountains.

Arriving in Vilišća, a hamlet South West of Ljoljići, I found a small band of Tito’s partisans. They have plans to sabotage a guarded railway bridge on the north side of the hamlet, and my package of explosives and detonators are the key ingredient.

I wandered through Vilišća, bracing myself for my first taste of combat, when I was suddenly met by British signaller, Sergeant Peretz ‘Rose’ Rosenberg. He handed me an envelope with coded intel from Bletchley Park: reports of Nazi troops moving through the area. I must leave immediately to get the message to my contact near Javorovac. The bridge will have to be left to Tito’s band.

Slipping the documents back into the envelope, I found another coded message to solve.

24 miles – The Climb

I left Vilišća in the late afternoon. Flurries of snow drifted in off the surrounding mountains, snuffing out the light as I passed through the ruinous village of Močioci. I was met by more of Tito’s partisans who warned of Serb Chetniks closing in on the area, so I searched your map for an alternate route to your rendezvous near Javorovac.

I made your way across a vast, snow-covered plain of abandoned farmland to steer clear of the enemy. The elements, however, were a different matter. Bitter winds howled through my hood and pierced my gloves, but I pulled your scarf closer and trudged on. At the far end of the farm, I found a steep trail into the mountains and began my ascent.

The alpine canopy offered some respite from the wind, but the snow was deeper here. Every step was more trying than the last, my boots gripped by fingers of snow. My vision blurred as sweat poured from my body, but I trudged on. And then I saw it. At first nothing more than a shadow, perhaps only a mirage. But as I moved closer, a shepherd’s mountain shelter painted itself into the snow-flecked darkness. I burst through the door and hunkered down in the draughty shelter. Sleep took me almost immediately.

I was shaken back to life by a partisan courier. As I handed over the intel from Sergeant Peretz ‘Rose’ Rosenberg, the courier directed me to Glavica to make contact with a VIP from England. He also gave me another code to crack. .

Day 5	5th January 2022	4.33 miles walked
Day 6	6thJanuary 2022	3.56 miles walked
Day 7	7th January 2022	3.48 miles walked
Day 8	8th January 2022	3.64 miles walked

30.89 miles walked 49.11 miles to go

Code	Junior	Codebreaker	Cypher Expert
1	Solved	Solved	Baffled so far
2	Solved	Solved	Need a lightbulb moment!
3	Solved	Stuck	Solved
4	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
5	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
6	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
7	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
8	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
9	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
10	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received

I’m annoyed with myself that yesterday’s walk wasn’t far enough to get another clue on the Berlin challenge today. I have a couple of sedentary days next week, but also some days where I should be able to fit in a slightly longer walk. I am very pleased that I finally cracked a Cypher Expert code on the Balkans challenge. Huge thanks to Mum for her help in code cracking!

Operation Bletchley: Day 4 Sitrep

Operation Bletchley is raising money for ABF The Soldiers’ Charity, the National Charity of the British Army and you can make a real difference. Established amongst the planning for D-Day in 1944, the charity was created to ensure that every soldier, veteran and family member in need receives the help they require.

The Fundraising

It is not too late to join me. Sign up here: https://events.soldierscharity.org/operation-bletchley

If the challenge is not for you, then you can contribute by sponsoring me: https://events.soldierscharity.org/fundraisers/RuthWillmore/operation-bletchley-balkans

Stories below are all courtesy of Operation Bletchley and ABF The Soldiers’ Charity, not my own work.

Berlin : 40 Miles

I had an important briefing with the Intelligence Corps’ 903 Field Security Section (FSS). They are working around the clock to beat the Soviet blockade in the East.

They needed me to kick off this year by braving the cold in East Germany. My mission began at British HQ Fehrbelliner Platz, Wilmersdorf. I arrived just in time to help serve dinner to the local children. The smell of hot turkey, gravy and crispy roast potatoes filled the air, giving me comfort for the perilous journey ahead. I met with the Section Sergeant Major of the Field Security Section. He arranged for an Army jeep to drop me north of the airfield at Royal Air Force (RAF) Gatow in the British zone, but I had to cover the last four miles on foot.

The Black Market

It was a frosty walk to my checkpoint at RAF Gatow in the British zone, but the sight of sweets drifting down to the local children certainly helped to warm my heart. They were dropped by a Handley Page Hastings and drifted down on little handkerchief parachutes.

I made contact with a 16-year-old boy at the airbase. I couldn’t talk for long, but he managed to share some vital intelligence about the black market activity in the Soviet zone.

It appears that supplies from the West are being smuggled to East Berlin where Soviet troops are selling them on. With the intelligence from my informant the smuggling routes can be blocked. Just before he left, the boy handed me a coded message from his relative in the Mitte district of the Soviet zone.

Day 1	1st January 2022	1.71 miles walked
Day 2	2nd January 2022	1.48 miles walked
Day 3	3rd January 2022	1.75 miles walked
Day 4	4th January 2022	1.39 miles walked

6.32 miles walked 33.68 miles to go

Code	Junior	Codebreaker	Cypher Expert
1	Solved	Solved	Solved
2	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
3	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
4	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
5	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
6	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
7	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
8	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
9	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
10	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received

The Balkans : 80 Miles

I received a briefing from Brigadier Fitzroy Maclean. It appears the civil war in Yugoslavia is at boiling point. War crimes are being committed by every faction, with daily executions of civilians and ethnic cleansing throughout the nation.

The British Secret Intelligence Service has smuggled explosives and ammunition into the country to aid Tito’s partisans, but the supplies were lost in the anarchy. So my mission will be two-fold: support Tito’s troops in their fight against the Nazis, and report any intelligence back to Bletchley Park along the way.

Churchill plans to make his support for Tito public when he briefs parliament on the Yugoslav campaign. But he needs to be sure about his strategic ambitions first. Until then, this is all top secret stuff. So I stayed off the roads, took the path less trodden and tried to keep myself two steps ahead.

A Frosty Reception

I boarded a Douglas C-47 in the small hours and rumbled through the night sky towards Yugoslavia. As the aircraft lined up over the drop zone on the outskirts of Jajce, I glimpsed signs of civilization twinkling across the town like shooting stars. The hatch opened, sending a rush of cold air up my spine. And suddenly there was nothing left to do but jump.

Plummeting towards earth, the deafening roar of the C-47 was replaced with another, more sinister sound. As I fell, the distant ding and pop of gunfire rose to meet me. Not shooting stars, after all…

I touched down undetected, gathered up my chute and picked a path through the trees to stay out of sight. I arrived at Brigadier Maclean’s old base just after dawn and was met by Tito’s liaison officer. He explained that Tito was visiting his commanders in the mountains.

The LO introduced my to my colleagues from the Special Operations Executive (SOE). They shared news of a major Nazi offensive in the works and sent me off towards Velisca with supplies to aid the cause. Peeking into the package, I found a slip of paper sticking out between the explosives. It was a coded message from my SOE colleagues.

Day 1	1st January 2022	4.22 miles walked
Day 2	2nd January 2022	3.84 miles walked
Day 3	3rd January 2022	4.36 miles walked
Day 4	4th January 2022	3.56 miles walked

15.98 miles walked 64.02 miles to go

Code	Junior	Codebreaker	Cypher Expert
1	Solved	Solved	Baffled so far
2	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
3	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
4	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
5	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
6	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
7	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
8	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
9	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received
10	not yet received	not yet received	not yet received

I had better get out for another walk!

Operation Bletchley: Day 1 Sitrep

January 1st 2022 marks the beginning of Operation Bletchley, a fund raising challenge for The Soldiers’ Charity. I have one month to cover the miles, crack the codes and deliver the final secret message.

This will be my third time taking part, after joining in the summer of 2020, 12 days of Christmas 2020 and summer 2021. This January there are two challenges and I have signed up for both.

Berlin : 40 Miles

I have 31 days to cover 40 miles through Soviet territory, meet my key contacts and decrypt vital intel about the blockade to help West Berlin survive the winter. After every 4 miles completed, I will make sure to keep an eye out in my inbox for the next stage of the journey and that all important code to crack! I will be working with the Intelligence Corp, racking up the miles on foot and aim to complete the mission by midnight on the 31st January.

It’s January 1949. Germany has been carved into four zones occupied by British, French, American and Soviet troops. Deep inside the Soviet zone lies Berlin. which like the rest of the country, is divided into four zones.
Cooperation between east and west has deteriorated and Stalin
has closed road, rail and water supplies to West Berlin – leaving two million Germans cut off.
Operation Plainfare is well underway, with British and American troops flying supplies down a 100-mile air corridor to Tempelhof and Gatow. With the Soviets dead-set on kicking Western allies out of Berlin, my help is needed to beat the blockade before it’s too late. I will be discovering the truth of what is happening in the East.

For this challenge I will be counting the distance covered on my daily walk.

The Balkans : 80 Miles

I have 31 days to cover 80 miles through the Yugoslavian mountains, arrange supply drops, organise attacks and gather intelligence in our fight against the Nazis. After every 8 miles completed, I will make sure to keep an eye out in my inbox for the next stage of the journey and that all important code to crack! I will be working with Tito’s Partisans, racking up the miles on foot and aiming to complete the mission by midnight on the 31st January.

It’s New Year’s Day, 1944, and Yugoslavia is in the midst of a civil war. The Serb Chetniks have sided with Axis forces. Their targets? The Bosnian Muslims, Catholic Croats, and Tito’s Yugoslav communist
partisans. But with this last group, there is hope. Since their king was exiled to London, Tito has built a force of 220,000 resistance fighters. And last summer, they fought off a major German-led offensive that led to the deposition of Mussolini in Italy. The tide, it seems, is turning.
Last September, Brigadier Fitzroy Maclean led the Maclean Mission (MACMIS) to train Tito’s fighters and uncover the extent of Russian influence over the partisans. But since Maclean left Yugoslavia to brief Churchill at the Tehran Conference, we need a new pair of boots on the ground to liaise with Bletchley Park and Tito’s Partisans and continue collecting intelligence for Churchill ahead of him making his support
for the Partisans public. That’s where I come in.
I am going undercover to arrange supply drops, organise attacks and gather intelligence in the fight against the Nazis.
The Germans and Serb Chetniks know the mountains well, so I’ll need to go on foot to avoid detection.

For this challenge I will be counting every step taken whilst wearing my Fitbit.

The Miles

The miles can be covered anywhere, using a fitness tracker to measure the distance covered. I try to walk for 30 minutes daily, and in 2021 I walked a total of 1395 miles. I am aiming for more in 2022.

To help motivate me I use Stepbet which gives me a daily step target, earning me some money when I achieve the target and losing me money when I fail. I have very rarely failed, even if I have to march on the spot before getting into bed.

I also use Waybetter games which vary, but the walking games include:

• Scavenger Hunts where I have to submit a picture of some specific found on my walk each day
• Walk this Way which means four 30 minute walks over the course of the week, each with a pace of 25 minutes per mile or faster

I have also joined a new challenge beginning 3rd January “Walk to 5k” which sets a distance target for each day, on 3rd January that target is just half a mile but steadily increases over 4 weeks to 2.5 miles and finally 5km. I am hoping that this will help me to easily cover the miles required for Operation Bletchley.

The Codes

There are three levels of codes for each challenge.

• Junior Codebreaker – aimed at 8-11 year olds
• Codebreaker – Challenging
• Cypher Expert – Would be accepted at GCHQ!

To complete either challenge I will need to crack all ten codes at any one of the levels. I can submit the answers as I go to check that they are right. I will of course be attempting all three levels, and enlisting the help of my nephew and nieces for the Junior Codebreaker level. I will almost certainly enlist family and friends to help with the others too.

The Fundraising

Operation Bletchley is raising money for ABF The Soldiers’ Charity, the National Charity of the British Army and you can make a real difference. Established amongst the planning for D-Day in 1944, we were created to ensure that every soldier, veteran and family member in need receives the help they require.

It is not too late to join me. Sign up here: https://events.soldierscharity.org/operation-bletchley

If the challenge is not for you, then you can contribute by sponsoring me: https://events.soldierscharity.org/fundraisers/RuthWillmore/operation-bletchley-balkans

I had better get out for a walk!

What have I learned in July?

Term finished at Strathclyde at the end of June but I continued studying with Pharos. I have been learning about employment records and have been surprised at just how much there is out there. I will definitely be spending more time learning about my ancestors occupations in the future. I am now working on the end of unit assignment, focusing on how to learn more about my Hopkinson blacksmith ancestors.

I took a bit of a break from reading, but have been enjoying Ian Mortimer’s “The Time Traveller’s Guide to Regency Britain.”

July went a bit pear-shaped when I ended up pacing the hospital grounds having dropped my husband at the “same day emergency care unit”. He is on the mend now but it was a worrying time. I didn’t focus very well and really didn’t take in very much from the talks that I was co-hosting uin the immediate aftermath.

I have co-hosted the Society of Genealogists “Tracing your London Ancestors” course, which continues into August. Very few of my ancestors came from London, but so many people visited or lived there for a while that this course feels very useful.

Course/Webinar	Speaker(s)	Organiser	My reflections
3 July Tracing your London Ancestors Course class 1. London Admin Boundaries & parish registers	Ian Waller	Society of Genealogists	Ian’s explanation of the various London boundaries was very useful. Having spent the majority of my life in the north of England and Wales I have a very bad habit of just calling it all “London”!
7 July Irish Ancestors & Irish Lives Session 6 – The Schools Collection – a vastly underused resource & Lucky Dip	Jill Williams & Rosalind McCutcheon	Society of Genealogists	The Schools Collection is an amazing resource, and one I would love to see created again, not just in Ireland. For those that don’t know, like me, it was a 1930s project in which school children interviewed “old people” about a different topic each week and wrote up their findings. Each school chose the best reports each week to record in a manuscript book. It is fascinating!
10 July Tracing your London Ancestors Course class 2. Getting the best from the census (London) and 1939 register	John Hanson	Society of Genealogists
17 July Secrets and Lies: Adventures in other people’s family history	Dr Frances Hurd	Society of Genealogists
17 July Tracing your London Ancestors Course class 3. In & Out of London	Ian Waller	Society of Genealogists
22 July Miscellany Researching forward from 1911	Les Mitchinson	The Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies	Les gave advice on using the electoral registers, 1939 register and education records amongst others to trace more recent ancestors. We also learned about how the 1921 census, due to be released in January will be of use.
23 July In Their Own Write: The Testimony of the Victorian English and Welsh Poor	Paul Carter	The National Archives	Very interesting to hear the letters written from workhouses, and those who were receiving “out relief”
24 July Tracing your London Ancestors Course class 4. London Wills & Probate	Else Churchill	Society of Genealogists	A very useful reminder of how to find pre-1858 wills. More and more are available online.
29 July Reading Old Handwriting (Palaeography) for Family Historians	Caroline Gurney	Society of Genealogists	The workshop format for this talk worked really well online. Caroline gave us plenty of suggestions and hints before we divided into groups to attempt to read a will from 1695.
31 July Tracing your London Ancestors Course class 5. London Sources at the London Metropolitan Archives	Jeff Gerhardt	Society of Genealogists	I had no idea how much is held by the LMA. Covid makes visiting and ordering records awkward but once things start to return to normal a visit would be fascinating.

Meanwhile, I have been walking. Since August 2020 I have completed Race At Your Pace walking events each month. I had set my distance at 100 miles but felt that the time had come to push myself. I am very proud of having walked 125 miles in July 2021. I used my Fitbit to count and every step counted towards the goal. I will add a picture of my medal as soon as it arrives. I have signed up for another 125 miles in August, it is another beautiful medal.

August Race at Your Pace Medal which I hope to earn by walking 125 miles in August.

The main reason that I challenged myself to walk further in July was Operation Bletchley. This is a virtual fundraising event organised by ABF The Soldiers’ Charity, and this was the third time I have taken part. This time it was three events in one and participants could choose Cairo (30 miles), London (50 miles) or Paris (100 miles). I decided to do all three.

For each challenge you have to walk the distance stated in order to deliver a coded message. The codes are received every 3, 5 or 10 miles depending on the challenge. For Cairo and London I only counted “walks” as tracked by MapMyFitness, but for Paris I counted every step as tracked by Fitbit.

Participants can choose to crack Junior, Codebreaker or Cypher Expert level codes. The tenth code for each uses the previous nine answers to get the final message. I won’t share the codes here but they will be available to purchase shortly. It has been a huge amount of fun, with help from my Mum on the codebreaking I managed all three distances, at all three levels. 90 codes in all. I have sent the Junior level codes onto my nieces and nephew to puzzle over during the summer holiday.

Sponsorship is open until the end of August 2021 so if you would like to sponsor me I would be very grateful. https://events.soldierscharity.org/s/9699/21207

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