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25 Mar 2010
The government is allocating £250,000 of Department of Culture, Media and Sport funding to help restore the World War Two code-breaking centre at Bletchley Park.
The announcement, made by culture secretary Ben Bradshaw, followed a long campaign for better funding of the centre.
Bletchley Park housed the world's first programmable electronic computer, and was responsible for much of the early development of modern cryptography and computer engineering.
"The work carried out at Bletchley Park had a huge impact on the course of the war, and the museum does a brilliant job in bringing this alive for people of all ages," said Bradshaw.
"It urgently needs funds to keep it in good condition. I am delighted to announce this grant, which will help renovate the buildings and ensure that future visitors enjoy a really high quality experience when they come here."
After the war, the site was used by the government and fell into disrepair until it was taken over by the Bletchley Park Trust, which has since fought hard to preserve the building and its historical artefacts.
"The new funding is making a huge difference," Simon Greenish, chief executive of the Bletchley Park Trust, told V3.co.uk.
"The award is allowing to deal with the worst of the problems, and means we can take the rest of the restoration a bit more slowly and carefully because there are less emergencies. Visitor numbers keep going up, but we do run on empty. It's a tight ship."
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Do you agree?
Bletchley Park repairs
While I agree with the Government grant toward repairs at Bletchley,I must say that having a little interest in this period of our recent past when Bletchley was playing an important part in the WW11 war effort,me and my family have made quite a few visits there over the years.I must say that over the years I have seen a marked deterioration in the fabric of the main building and the adjoining buildings and have in fact spoken about this to members of the staff to make my observations known and I have noted my concern in the visitors book. Although I must have donated some considerable sums of money in entrance fees over the years at no time did I feel that the Park administration had a structured plan for the upkeep of the place,even basic maintainance like painting and decorating was neglected.and I certainly never received any assurances from staff when I did mention my concerns.Just what does happen to the income they receive from visitors?.. Perhaps now that the campaign has produced results the administrators will add some of their own funds to the £250,000 Government grant and make a good job of restoring the Park to its former glory. For future funding,could not the Bletchley board make direct appeals to leading industrial and City institutions to set up a permanent Trust Fund to raise monies to keep the site in peak condition for years to come
Posted by: Peter Lineton 26 Mar 2010