"A Bridge of Allan family are mourning the death of a much-loved matriarch and veteran of the Allied code-breaking operation during World War Two. Adelina ‘Lena’ Ferguson, nee Irvine – who started work as a cryptographer at Bletchley Park, Milton Keynes, aged 24 – died on April 23 aged 103. Adelina’s brother George, one-and-a-half years her senior, a pilot in WW2, was shot down over Normandy in 1940 aged 21, and is buried in France. Adelina, a WREN, was at Bletchley Park for two years. Jacqui added: “At the time she said they had run out of men to recruit and started looking for women with Highers, particularly Maths and German, which my gran had. “She loved crosswords and puzzles so the post really suited her and she was excited to be part of the war effort. “She had to sign the secrets act so didn’t speak of her experiences for a long time. It wasn’t until she was 90-years-old that she finally received a medal and certificate from the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, in 2009. “She spoke about the whirring drums that would produce the letters and the huge Colossus machine and just how she was one little part in the many processes that went on. “She spoke fondly of the Nissen huts she stayed in with the other WRENs, saying it was great fun and they often snuck into each other’s huts for a tipple after lights out. “Apart from when one of the huts was bombed and they all had to go without hot water for a week in winter.” After the war Lena worked for WD&HO Wills, the tobacco merchants, in Glasgow, where she met her husband Jimmy." www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/tributes-paid-following-death-bridge-29871394?fbclid=IwAR3GfjRXBz8KGf7kgWb-9k5tOO_6x4zy9zpGckJPEmt2yY8rh7-sg2CTziI
