www.morsecodebeaumanor.com
Beaumanor Hall and grounds in Woodhouse, Leicestershire, were home to the War Office Y Group "Secret Listeners" during World War 2. The "Y" service was a network of British signals intelligence collection sites, the Y-stations. The service was established during the First World War and used again during the Second World War.[1] The sites were operated by a range of agencies including the Army, Navy and RAF plus the Foreign Office (MI6 and MI5), General Post Office and Marconi Company receiving stations ashore and afloat. There were more than 600 receiving sets in use at Y-stations during the Second World War (text from Wikipedia).
BEAUMANOR FROM THE AIR 2023 (GOOGLE EARTH)
Copyright © 2023 by Peter Cousins and Bob Sim All Rights reserved
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CLICK ARROW TO HEAR SITE TITLE IN MORSE CODE
The aim of this website is to trace, contact, and bring together descendants of the intercept operators based at Beaumanor between 1940 and 1946.
Did your Mother or Grandmother or other relative serve in the Army-ATS during WW2, but never disclose or talk about what she actually did ?
The key question- 'Was she good at morse code?'
Then maybe she served at Beaumanor as ' a secret Y listener'.
We are able to check!
IF YOU KNOW SOMEONE INVOLVED WITH BEAUMANOR OR THEIR DESCENDANTS/RELATIVES PLEASE CONTACT US:
DID YOUR RELATIVE RECIEVE THE GC&CS BADGE? CLICK ON THE PICTURE BELOW
THE "CHILDREN OF BEAUMANOR"
Some Of The Descendants We Have Found
HEAR ONE OF THE "LISTENERS" TALKING IN 2012 ABOUT HER LIFE INTERCEPTING MORSE CODE MESSAGES FOR 3 YEARS AT BEAUMANOR.
INTERVIEWED BY DAVE ANDREWS, BBC RADIO LEICESTER
SATURDAY JULY 22ND 2023 NATIONAL MEMORIAL ARBORETUM COMMEMORATION SERVICE FOR THE Y GROUP MEMBERS
LOST OR RETIRED SINCE WW2
MESSAGES RECEIVED FROM THE WEBSITE, EMAIL AND FACEBOOK
Ian Curtis
There was a time….When doing my initial Trg in Harrogate where at one half term I was at home with my parents when my Grandma and Grandad came to visit…I was in the kitchen practicing my Morse Rx at a goodly speed of 12 WPM….Grandma comes in and says what are you doing Ian…I said…You wouldn’t understand Grandma it’s this modern way of doing communications….She said can I have a go ?? To placate her I said well this is my Sending Buzzer see if you can make any sense of that….She sat down and started rattling off 5 letter groups that I had…..I had to get the Cassette Recorder out to record her product and took it back to H’Gate….The verdict??? This was from an ex Navy Bunting Tosser…..She has a steady hand, probably 27-28 WPM….And taught at Mercury….Apparently she was stationed at the old CSOS Flowerdown…Where I spent my second posting with 223 Signal Sqn
Ron Adams
My dad was there but in the early fifties, he spent the war years on the south coast in Dorset somewhere (closer to the german comms I presume).
06 August 2023
THE "SECRET LISTENERS" AT BEAUMANOR HAD TO SIT THROUGH HOURS OF LISTENING FOR MORSE CODE MESSAGES AMONGST THE BACKGROUND NOISE.
CLICK HERE FOR AN EXAMPLE OF THE SOUNDS THEY LISTENED TO - SEE IF YOU CAN PICK OUT THE MORSE SIGNALS..................
PHOTO BELOW FRONT ROW CENTRE IS JOYCE KATHLEEN BIRCHER
DO YOU KNOW ANY OTHERS IN THE PHOTOGRAPH?
Back Row: Kath Statham, Dorothy Perkins, Mary Lennon, Joyce Doody, Nan Stephenson
Front Row: Red Yalden, Betty Stockdale, Joyce Bircher, Goldie Rackham, Margaret Webb
OLIVE SPINKS C WATCH
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