As celebrations are held around the world this week to mark the centenary of the birth of genius Codebreaker, Alan Turing, the Bletchley Park Trust announces the successful completion of the £7.4 million funding package to enable them to commence urgent restoration of the profoundly historic, yet currently derelict, Codebreaking Huts 3 and 6, and the development of a world-class visitor centre and exhibition space in WW2 Card Index building, Block C.
In September of last year, the Bletchley Park Trust announced that it needed to raise £2.4 million in match funding in order to unlock a Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £5 million. The Trust is today delighted to announce that these funds have now been successfully raised and that the Heritage Lottery Fund has granted the Trust “Permission to Start” on the restoration project.
Iain Standen, CEO of the Bletchley Park Trust, hailed today’s announcement, saying, “This is an exciting and unparalleled milestone in the twenty year history of the work of the Bletchley Park Trust, allowing us to start the work of preserving this site for future generations and in permanent tribute to the extraordinary men and women who worked here during WW2.
“Raising these funds has not only been a race against time to save the Huts from dereliction, but also has been imperative in order to create essential capacity and an improved experience for our ever-rising numbers of visitors. We are enormously grateful for the generosity of the Heritage Lottery Fund and other donors for enabling us to start making this vision a reality”.