The Bletchley Park Trust has got the go-ahead to start restoring its famous code-breaking huts and build a new visitor centre after it successfully raised £2.4 million in matched funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund, which is releasing £5 million.
The announcement comes as the nation celebrates the anniversary of the birth of Bletchley's most famous WW2 resident, Enigma code breaker Alan Turing, and the godfather of modern computing.
Iain Standen, CEO of the Bletchley Park Trust, said: “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."
The £2.4 million came from various foundations, charities and individuals, with Google and other technology companies making significant contributions.
The fundraising isn't stopping there though, as Bletchley has just launched a campaign to raise £15 million to improve and expand the visitor site further.
BCS, the Chartered Institute for IT, recently launched a £30,000 bursary to celebrate Alan Turing's centenary year. The BCS Education Bursary aims to promote the importance of computer science as an academic discipline.