Poignant Ross return for codebreaking legend
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
A WORLD-rRENOWNED code breaker expert is returning to his Highland roots for the first time since his teenage years.
Dr Mark Baldwin is to be the keynote speaker at the WWII and the Arctic Convoys Week being to be held in Aultbea, from May 7-12 – and he'll be bringing his Enigma machine with him!
Dr Baldwin spent some of his formative years in Strathpeffer when his father was senior resident engineer on the North of Scotland Hydro-Electric Board's Conon Basin Scheme. This meant that his family home from about 1955 to 1961 was a wooden bungalow in the countryside near Strathpeffer, one of a row of bungalows built to accommodate some of the staff working on this scheme.
Dr Baldwin is returning to the North West Highlands for first time since living in Strathpeffer in the early 1960s and is very much looking forward to presenting his talk at Aultbea Village Hall.
It'll be entitled ‘Enigma and the U Boats’ and be staged on May 11 and 12at the WWII event being organised by the Russian Arctic Convoy Museum Project in Wester Ross.
Central to the project is the importance of highlighting the legacy of the WWII Arctic Convoys. Loch Ewe was where almost half of the convoys to Russia began their perilous journeys between 1941-1945.
Over 3,000 men lost their lives in the convoys, 104 ships were sunk, many by U-boats, and Dr Baldwin’s talk will be a fascinating insight into the role of Enigma, Bletchley Park and the U Boats.
Dr Baldwin said: "I am looking forward to my visit back to the area and delighted to be able to bring, for the very first time, my Enigma machine with me to demonstrate about code making and code breaking. I believe this is the first time that Enigma has been to this part of the North West Highlands!"
A full list of events for the week and tickets for Dr Baldwin’s talk are available from www.russianarcticconvoymuseum.co.uk or telephone 01445 731093. Many other events during WWII and the Arctic Convoy Week are free entry, by donation to the Museum Project.
