Chris Hayes

I was born on 16th December 1918 in Castlebar, County Mayo, in the Republic of Ireland. I came to the UK in 1926. I attended night school in Kettering to learn shorthand and typing whilst working in an insurance office. As a civilian, when called up, I was given the choice by the Labour Exchange of either working on the buses in Corby, or working for the Foreign Office in Bletchley Park.

I was told to report to Bletchley railway station, and walk up to the main house for an interview. I was not told the nature of the work before I got there, and have kept quiet about it for the past 50 years! I was sent to Hut 3, and my younger sister Lola Horan joined me at Bletchley Park six months later and was sent to Hut 6 to work on the Enigma machine. Our hut was transcribing Morse signals from the German Abwehr.

I was initially billeted in a private house in Wolverton, and then, together with my sister, over a pub in Bradwell. We were collected by coach to get to work and we were very pleased to be paid ‘London money’ – 30 shillings a week – instead of the local wages. We worked a shift system: 8 am to 4 pm (days), 4 pm to midnight (evenings), and midnight to 8 am (nights). There were about 20 people per shift, men and women working together. I remember having to use special hand cream because the drums on the machines got so black. I remember especially Mr. White, our shift supervisor from Hut 3. He was an ex-local Bank Manger with a temper – one day he found a cup of tea left on the Enigma machine and threw the cup out of the window!

I was great friends with Christine Glover from Kettering who worked on another Hut 3 shift, and also with Eve Cobley who was already working in the Hut when I arrived. Eve was to become one of my best friends. She was in charge of staff wages in C5. I remember Mr White having to sack a man who had stolen money from Eve’s pocket. I also remember working with a very well-spoken Catholic, possibly titled, lady, whose name unfortunately escapes me. Sadly, my sister Lola and Eve Cobley are now both deceased.

It was fun working at Bletchley Park. There were times when some of the cryptographers were a bit high-spirited. I remember the dances held in the large canteen just outside the main entrance gate in Wilton Avenue. I must add that my husband Roy (Steve) Hayes came to Bletchley Park for a short time at the end of the war to work in the TP Room. He was ex-Royal Navy and was working at Hanslope Park for the Diplomatic Wireless Service. We met at GCHQ, and we are still together, aged 91.