During the five years of the war, a small town of barracks housing the various sections of the GC&CS grew up next to the Victorian mansion that had become the centre of BP. By the end of the war, the buildings and park resounded with the voices of nearly 10.000 people. It took only a few weeks of peace for the hitherto bustling place to become almost deserted. Certainly, most of the staff left with a feeling of deep relief. The bulk of the BP staff were young women who had enlisted in the auxiliary formations of the British armed forces, some wanting to experience something heroic, others hoping to find even a little romance in war. After the conflict, they must have found that there was about as much heroism or charm in their wartime occupations as in the work of a lathe operator. Subjected to military discipline, they performed day and night a monotonous job, requiring concentration and patience, the meaning of which they did not know.