StationX in its modern incarnation was born on the 16th of February 2009. The intention was to create a social media geek-meet, offering access to Bletchley Park for bloggers, tech lovers and social media types, in return for helping amplify Bletchley Park’s online campaign.
With this common cause in mind, approximately once a month a date is announced through the twitter account @StationX and the entry fee of £10 is wavered to those attending the geek meet.
StationX meet-ups are not restricted to only once a month, some meets happen under the radar. For example, we recently gave @StephenFry a tour that helped raise awareness of the park considerably.
If you find yourself at Bletchley Park with another person on twitter then feel free to announce that you are having a Station X meet up… we’ve had several bloggers of note and the BBC roll up so you never know who might attend.
If you have the tools in your pocket to blog about your experience please do. Every conversation helps to keep the Bletchley Park campaign in peoples minds. Using the twitter hash tag #bpark helps those interested to keep track of the conversation.
On a pre-planned day everyone meets in Hut 4 (the Cafe) at about 10am for coffee before taking the chance of a personal tour around the exhibits. Some StationX regulars hang back to network and catch up.
Because of Bletchley Park’s location you find yourself in the company of many new faces you would not normally see in the Manchester, Birmingham and London events.
The actual StationX takes it’s name from Bletchley Park’s wireless room manned by Mi6 in 1939. It was the 10th station of it’s kind to be opened hence the roman numeral in Station ‘X’.
The park is packed with history and attractions. To date, I have been on five tours of the park and on every occasion I have found something new and inspirational. Please make sure you click on the links embedded within this post for more history and information.
Besides being the birthplace of the computer, the critical importance of Bletchley Park in world history cannot be denied. More needs to be done to ensure future generations can visit, learn and understand.
Follow Kelsey Griffin @BletchleyPark and @Dr_Black to know more about the campaign @StationX for the geek meet and me, @Documentally just because.. 🙂
More resources below:
Main Site: http://www.bletchleypark.org.uk/
Sue Black’s site: http://www.savingbletchleypark.org/
National Museum Of Computing: http://www.tnmoc.org//
Lloyd Davis Blog: http://perfectpath.co.uk/2009/05/20/to-bletchley-park/
Photos from me: http://www.flickr.com/photos/christianpayne/sets/72157612582384354/
Photos from @Sizemore: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sizemore/sets/72157612568699509/
Rory Cellan-Jones http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/technology/2009/05/bletchley_park_the_fry_effect.html
Please feel free to comment below including links to your content..
Don’t forget to visit the National Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park. Lots of iconic machines to play with – ZX81, BBC Micro, Amstrad CPC464 etc etc
Of course Lin! (where’s your link..) 😉
This is why Bletchley Park is such a ‘Geek Mecca’ today. The Museum of Computing at Bletchley Park is constantly evolving with new things to see. It’s a real blast from the past.. Too much to mention here.. 🙂
The National Museum of Computing http://www.tnmoc.org
Another way to help Bletchley Park and make a good investment is to visit the Bletchley Park Post Office website.
The first day covers it issues are becoming very collectable. Some fetching hundreds and on ebay. Interestingly thing the more people know about them the faster post issue values rise. A number of future developments are about to bring these into the media spotlight. So Bletchley Park fans should snap up remaining stock whilst we still have them at the original prices. Bletchley Park benefits through the financial support we have been giving since 1994 and collectors know that their “little pieces ofart and history” will keep growing in historical as well as monetary value.
Take a look at the Bletchley Park photo group at Flickr:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/bletchleypark/
Includes some pictures of mine too!
I’ve always wanted to visit Bletchley Park; I’ve read and seen so much about it it’s a crime I haven’t been already! Not sure if I can make it this month due to meetings the next day but I’ll try and work something out 😀
Hi @Minxlj,
It’s really easy to get to. It’s pretty much on top of Bletchley train station and we normally wrap up around 2pm. Plenty of time to get back, or if you need taking to Milton Keynes main station I’m happy to take you.
c.
LOLz…just checked out trains and booking right now it’s almost £200 cheapest.
O_o
Unfortunately I don’t drive, so I’ll have to see if I can convince some local pals to drive down, or arrange to come down for the next meet and make a trip of it perhaps. I’ll get there eventually 😉
Hmmm.. i just looked.. Yup. It aint cheap. It would make a great photo walk.. check out the flickr groups.. 😉