Thank you to the families of the men and women of WATU who contributed their memories, photographs and documents for the research of this book, and without whom this story could not have been told in this way.
Thanks to John Lunt and Bill Laidlaw, cousin and nephew of Jean Laidlaw; Mike Gretton and Anne Cowan, son and daughter of Sir Peter Gretton and Judy Du Vivier; Janet Reynolds, daughter of Laura Janet ‘Bobby’ Howes; Margaret Swanson and Janet Hinings, stepdaughter and niece of Janet Okell; Tony Bridger, nephew of Nancy Wales; Susan Armstrong, daughter of Doris Lawford; Trish Browne, daughter of Pauline Preston; Rodger Tooley-Hawkins, son of William Tooley-Hawkins and stepson of Elizabeth Hackney; Michael Osborne and Penny Smith, son and daughter of Fred Osborne and Elizabeth Drake, and nephew and niece of Nancy Osborne; Jez Robinson, grandson of Mary Horsfall. Thanks to Christian Lamb (née Oldham), her carer Dr Lauraine Vivian, her elder son Simon Lamb and her daughter, Lady Rollo. Thanks to Sarah and Patrick Watson, daughter and son-in-law of Colin Ryder Richardson.
Special thanks to Susan Osman, daughter of Captain Gilbert Roberts.
Thank you to the other living Wrens who shared their memories, in particular, Rosemary Smith, leader of the Manchester Wrens; Patricia Davies, and Elsie Pearsal, the Derby House cook.
Thank you to Julie Crocke, senior archivist at the Royal Archives; Isabel Hernandez, archivist at Kensington Central Library; Brigadier Archie Miller-Bakewell, Private Secretary to HRH the Duke of Edinburgh; Pauline Rushton, senior curator, Art Galleries and Sudley House, National Museums Liverpool; Celia Saywell, representative of the Association of Wrens and Women of the Royal Naval Services; and Emma Stringfellow, curator of the Western Approaches museum.
Special thanks to Laura Berry for her invaluable research support mapping the genealogies of various Wrens and naval officers, and in locating their living relatives. Thanks to Holly Neilsen for her research support regarding military boardgames.
Thank you to Paul Strong and Sally Davies of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory whose initial research revitalised interest in the unit, and who kindly agreed to work as consultant readers on this book. Special thanks to Sally for sharing relevant research findings, particularly regarding the origins of WATU’s badge, and for helping to identify Wrens from unit photographs.
Thank you to Rex Brynen, Brian McCue and Peter Perla for providing valuable background on wargames in the Second World War.
Thanks to Alex Barron of the New Yorker Radio Hour who commissioned me to report on wargaming both contemporary and historical, and to Major Tom Mouat who, during the making of that programme, first told me about ‘Raspberry’. Thanks to Tom Bissell, who first suggested that I write this book, and to my father, Paul Parkin, for reading early drafts.
Special thanks to my editors Juliet Brooke and Vanessa Mobley, my copyeditor David Milner, and to Jane Finigan of Lutyens & Rubinstein.
My deep gratitude to Christian Donlan, Tom Fenwick, Darren Garrett, Ed Hawkins, Vicky Jones, Will Porter and Keith Stuart for their encouragement throughout the writing of this book. Finally, unending thanks to Nicky Parkin for her unending support.