World War II veteran June Blakey leaves legacy of theatre stuff.co.nz - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from stuff.co.nz Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Search for family of Bunty Thomas of Cottingham after discovery of poignant journal
The gardening journal has travelled all the way to the south coast following a house clearance
The gardening journal that found its way from Cottingham to Southsea (Image: Lois Saunders/Simon Renilson)
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A WOMAN who was a tireless fundraiser, resolute in her political beliefs and a former member of staff at the wartime code breaking centre has died. Sheilah Maureen Pitman (nee Westropp) was born into a military family; her father was Major-Gen Victor John Eric Westropp CB CBE, while her mother Elenita Augusta died when she was a teenager. During the Second World War she enlisted in the Women’s Royal Naval Service (WRENs) and worked at Bletchley Park, where the country’s top brains successfully cracked the German enigma codes, credited as greatly shortening the conflict. For years she and the other staff from the code breaking HQ were forbidden from discussing anything of their part in the highly-secret crypto-war until years later.