The home of the British effort to break German Enigma signal codes in World War II, Bletchley Park, is facing financial troubles and may have to close. It has been estimated that the code-breaking undertaken at Bletchley Park may have shortened the war by up to two years, saving thousands of lives. Part of the code-breaking endeavour resulted in the construction of the world's first programmable computer, called Colossus.
A 10 Downing Street petition has been started to ask the Government to help save BP here:
Code centre crumbling
BY ROB GIBSON
The home of the codebreakers, Bletchley Park, is in danger of falling apart unless it can raise millions of pounds.
Milton Keynes' most important historical site is in danger of crumbling if serious financial backing is not found within four years, according to Bletchley Park Trust Director, Simon Greenish.
The site is recognised by historians for its vital role in helping the Allies to win the war but Bletchley Park Trust has no money to fix its rotting buildings and museum.
Yesterday Mr Greenish told MK NEWS that he is searching for a way to finance the maintenance.
He said: "It's a race to make sure we get the buildings sorted out before we end up with bigger problems. If the mansion continues to deteriorate there will come a time when it will be a risk.
"We run the museum on a shoestring basis. We need millions of pounds to help sort it out.
"In four years we must have solved these problems because otherwise we'll lose historic buildings."
While the site is now home to a museum it was once the secret base for Churchill's codebreakers.
Nine thousand staff worked around the clock to break the German codes and intercept critical enemy manoeuvres.
But while visitor numbers continue to grow the future is uncertain for one of Britain's most important historical sites.
Staff at the Trust are busily planning a fundraising programme which will launch later this year and seeks to gain the attention of a worldwide audience.
Today MK NEWS announces its backing for the project.
Mr Greenish said: "Your support is greatly appreciated.
"This is a site of international value right in the middle of Milton Keynes.
"It's taken the trust 15 years to get ownership of the site and they have never been able to get enough money to deal with the infrastructure."
The buildings under threat include Bletchley Park Mansion which is undergoing repairs to its roof to stop rainwater coming in - but this is soaking up scarce funds. Even more disturbing is the state of two of the hole-ridden huts, including Hut 6, where German Army and Air Force Enigma machine ciphers were cracked.
Mr Greenish said: "They are two of the most important temporary buildings in the world, where the whole process of code breaking changed.
"Two of the huts are in a very poor state - they are rotten.
"Hut 6 won't survive two or three years." The Trust is renewing its case for support from the Heritage Lottery Fund and has also considered re appealing to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
- If you would like to support Bletchley Park call MK NEWS on 01908 689595 or e-mail
editor@mk-news.co.uk
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