Yesterday my travels took me to Runnymede, the meadows on which the Magna Carta was signed in 1215. It has struck me for a long time that this great document is honoured more outside Britain - particularly in the US. (Magna Carta Facts)While this has been a really interesting week for me - it has also been a little depressing. I had the privilege of visiting two major sites - both of major national and international significance - yet felt that as a nation we are failing to live up to the responsibility to honour and pass on that history.
If I had been looking for Thorpe Park (Britain's third largest theme park - "catering to the thrill-ride market"), my journey would have benn easy. It was well signposted. Runnymede was not. When we eventually found it - I have to say it was rather under-stated. Here was the site of one of the most important events in British and world history, but there wasn't even a bookshop. The memorial - was built by the AMERICAN Bar Association. There were some "interpretation boards" - but surely we could be doing more to tell this story - to inspire the young - to keep alive the traditions which made Britain great. (we don't seem to have a problem celebrating less valuable traditions).
Bletchley Park is another national treasure that we have treated woefully. There has been some fantastic work done by volunteers to open up the history of what happened there. I am in awe of what they have achieved. A working model of Colossus was made - by a handful of volunteers - from photographs and partial wiring diagrams. When tested, it proved that the model was able to decode as the original had. There's an archive section which has processed masses of key documents - in a tiny area. Key buildings have been saved from destruction. Yet this is not a well financed, publicly sponsored operation. As the Save Bletchley Park Facebook Site says -
"The museum at Bletchley Park is in dire need of funding. Historic buildings are crumbling and need restoration. Despite its historical importance it receives no ongoing public funding and is urgently seeking donations.We owe it to both ourselves and to the men and women who served there to preserve Bletchley Park for our generation and the next, as computer users, citizens of the free world and simply as human beings."
I strongly recommend visiting Bletchley Park - it is a really interesting place. It's well worth a visit. Also I would urge your support. Join the facebook Group ; write to your MP to encourage them to sign the EDM ; if you like in the area consider becoming a volunteer.
History is a wonderful thing - we can honour the great things done in the past - we can also learn, and be inspired, for our future.
