Bletchley Park in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, is hosting a series of historical talks and activities on March 7–8, 2026, to honour the women who worked at the site during the war. The “Remarkable Women, Unbreakable Codes” weekend will highlight how female staff made up around 75% of the workforce at the famous codebreaking centre. The programme marks International Women’s Day by sharing the stories of the thousands of women who carried out vital work in secrecy.
Visitors can attend hands-on workshops and watch demonstrations of the wartime machines that female staff once operated. The Bletchley Park Trust created the event to shift the focus from famous individual figures to the thousands of women who kept the intelligence factory running every day. The weekend includes a mix of ticketed symposium sessions and open-access demonstrations; some demonstrations and workshops may be included with a standard annual pass. The sessions are designed for both local families and history enthusiasts.
Historical records from the Bletchley Park Trust show that by 1945 roughly 7,500 women were working at the site — about 75% of the workforce at the time. Experts note that these women were not just clerical workers but served as linguists (translators), traffic analysts/interceptors, and machine operators who were essential to the war effort. The weekend will include specific talks about how these women were recruited from universities and the military to help crack enemy codes.
This event is particularly meaningful for the local community, as many people in Milton Keynes are descendants of women who worked at the park and kept their work secret under the Official Secrets Act for decades. Jacqueline de Rojas CBE, Chair of the Board of Trustees, is leading the Trust as it seeks to ensure these local stories and female contributions are a permanent part of the site’s history. The programme aims to celebrate these residents as the backbone of the entire wartime operation.
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