After Bletchley Park, my other location was to be the SIS building in London but somehow, after visiting and reviewing the Bletchley images, the idea of going straight to London didn’t seem quite right. During the war, many of the workers at Bletchley Park worked for the Government Code and Cypher School (GC&CS) and when the war ended, it was decided that the expertise that had been developed at Bletchley Park would be continued by a number of the wartime GC&CS staff to a new organisation called the Government Communications Headquarters or, as we know it today, GCHQ.
It seemed, therefore, entirely appropriate to make this location my next stop. In theory it was the obvious choice. In practice, it was maybe a little bit more difficult. Could I really just walk up to a top-secret building and start taking photographs?
I had a look at some maps of the area and wondered if the land around GCHQ belonged to the local council so decided to approach them first. I sent an email to Cheltenham Borough Council. I explained again the reasons for my potential visit and about the project and enquired about possible permits for photographing on public property. I received a reply from their Communications Officer Kelly Carter who advised me to contact GCHQ’s Press Office directly. This I wasn’t expecting. In fact, it was something I was dreading. I feared that as soon as I sent the email, I’d receive a definitive ‘No’ and a lecture about the Official Secrets Act etc. but I thought I’d send the email anyway. Even a negative response could be classed as research.
In my email, I made it clear that there would be no close up or zoom photography (I was hoping this would garner a favourable response) and that if any identification was required, I would happily supply it. So at 12:55pm on the 14th July 2015, I clicked ‘Send’ on the email and waited for what was surely a negative response.
At 2.39pm the same day, I received an email from GCHQ Press & Public Affairs Office. It read –
“Hi Wayne
Thank you for your email.
You are able to take photographs of the building, with the caveat that you do not take any images that include faces of members of staff or any other identifying details, such as car number plates, and, as you say below, that there is no close-up or zoom photography.
If you let us know what date and roughly what time you are coming then we can inform our security officers. They may still challenge you but then if you produce identification and explain that you have spoken to Press Office, then they should have a record of your visit being expected.
Best wishes and good luck with your project
GCHQ Press and Public Affairs Office” (GCHQ Press and Public Affairs Office, 2015)
To say I was surprised would probably be the understatement of the year! I couldn’t believe it. Immediately I started checking Google Maps to see where the best vantage points were to take the best shots and tried to formulate in my mind how I wanted the images to look. The next thing I did was booked my train ticket. I replied to the email with details of my arrival date and time and after I stopped shaking with excitement, I breathed a huge sigh of relief.
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