The Secret Listeners - The Radio Security Service (RSS)

Hi Urqh,

I apologize for not responding. I asked about Colindale - near Hendon I believe - as my mother was listed as working at the Colindale exchange and that is only because I found a work card and a letter of congrats when she had my oldest brother in late 44.

She would only say she worked for the War Dept and anything she knew was covered by the Official Secrets Act - one a 25 year one and the other lifetime and felt that lifetime was the best way to keep it all. Trying to find out what she did has been brutal. I have researched all over but cannot find a Colindale exchange. I had relatives who were positive she worked at Bletchely as they said she never spoke about what she did. Although Bletchley told me they do not have a record of her.

She was very smart, good with math. I know she did have knowledge of telephony also Morse. From a story my Dad told, when he was able to meet Mum when he was on leave, he was always told to only walk to a certain spot and no further. He decided one day to cross the road and he said he was suddenly confronted by two large MP types who seemed to appear from nowhere and it was only Mum coming up on them shortly afterwards and doing a lot of fast talking that kept him from being hauled away. He also mentioned the time she irritated my eldest brother to the point of insanity (she could do that at times lol) and as a teen he appeared to lose his temper and moved his hand too quickly towards her and woke up on the kitchen floor a short time later after being thrown with a judo move. I don't think someone who was just a telephone operator would be taught self defense like that. Recently I purchased a book about WWII code breaking secret work (whose name is escaping me at the moment) in which I swear it is a photo of my mother but from enough of a distance it is not definite, yet anyone who has seen it and another photo taken of her in June 45 thinks it is her.

I had not heard of RSS but perhaps it might be a lead. If you ever come across anything about Colindale please let me know. Oh she did also mention once about being on the phone with DeGaule and said he was the rudest man she ever encountered and I think that only came out as she was reacting to his inflammatory remarks at the time of Quebec separist movement and the FLQ crisis and was angry! Thanks!

 

The secret listerners were mostly from the RAF Y service. They and naval equiv togehter with the V.I's who were basically civilian radion enthusiasts before the war plucked the signals out of the ether and fitted into the Bletchley story by passing the traffic to Bletchley for cryptographic interperatation. Although some signals were passed direct to commanders in field. Cheadle in UK home to RAF Y service is a great place to start any research...There was so much more to Bletchley and its partners than enigma.

 

He's back?! Huzza!

 

It's a shame the way they treated him after the war considering the magnitude of what he did for his country. The Imitation Game does look really good, I to hope to see it soon.