UK IT veteran pledges £1m to The National Museum of Computing

A technology entrepreneur has pledged the largest ever contribution to The National Museum of Computing [TNMOC] in Bletchley Park.

Matt Crotty, a veteran on the UK IT industry, will hand over £1 million to the project with the money being used to refurbish the museum in order for capacity to be increased for both visitors and exhibits.

“My decision to donate has also been motivated by the increasing public awareness of the significance of digital heritage and the role and understanding it can play in inspiring current and future generations to become engineers and computer scientists,” said Crotty, who is also a trustee of the museum.

Crotty’s donation has been pledged on a “matched funding” basis meaning that the museum must find the same amount as Crotty has pledged in order to see the money. With that in mind TNMOC has started a fund-raising campaign and will get a donation from Crotty for everything they raise up to £1 million.

TNMOC is home to the biggest collection of functioning historic computers anywhere on the planet with visitors able to discover the development of computers from the 1940s to the present day. More will be able to be exhibited as a result of the funding and it’s something that will let the museum continue its path as a unique destination.

"Already the Museum is recognised as one of the top computing museums in the world, but we have only just started. This new funding -- the largest single private donation to any organisation on Bletchley Park -- will enable us to unleash amazing potential,” said Tim Reynolds, chairman of trustees at TNMOC.

The museum is situated in the grounds of Bletchley Park, a wartime code-cracking centre, and has, in the past, been saved from extinction by donations from the likes of IBM and PGP.