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Bletchley Park Faces Financial Rescue
biscuitfever11 writes "Just two months ago it seemed that Bletchley Park, the home of Station X, Britain's secret code-breaking base during the War, was doomed as the codebreakers' huts rotted and the site fell into disrepair. But today Britain's Lottery Fund is set to step in with a grant to rescue the ailing heritage site. (There was an earlier story on ZDNet.)"
Britains voluntary tax on the mathematically challenged and the poor
run for profit by a US Company naturally
Most Slashdotters probably don't need to be told this, but anyone interested in historical fiction about Bletchley Park shouldn't miss Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson. It's entertaining and rich in technical detail.
Are we talking about the same place? My wife and I went last week and ended up going on two consecutive days. It was absolutely brilliant - Colossus was up and running and we were given a talk through it by one of the re-build team. We also talked to them about the Tunny machine they are working on and the Heath Robinson they're also re-building despite the fact it never actually worked. There are also working bomb machines and very knowledgeable staff all other the site. I would have liked more technical detail then was easily available but I really did think it was excellent. Do a tour if you go and/or get an audio wand.
Turing didn't hang himself. He ate an apple laced with cyanide.
I took a class of learning disabled children to Bletchley Park a few years back - we had a great time trying on gas masks and stuff. Not a lot of money in that though, and it's not something they could easily let millions of people do. Having said that we also went to the Imperial War Museum in London - and it wasn't a patch on the Bletchley experience, and they seem to make it work.
The wooden huts surrounding a stately home are very much part of the deal - you can't really get rid of them : They really are historic. As for why it was left to rack and ruin - well that's because they just looked like old huts - no one realised they were historic. Also the work was so secret that hardly anyone had a clue what went on there until relatively recently.
Much as I'm glad it's survived though, I have to say my own kids prefer the indoor ski slope with real snow at the Sno Dome about 2 miles away. Which gives you some idea of what they're up against
Most Slashdotters probably don't need to be told this, but anyone interested in historical fact about Bletchley Park shouldn't miss Alan Turing: The Enigma by Andrew Hodges. It's entertaining, rich in technical detail and, wait for it, true.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
Well there must be some interest about Bletchley in the UK; BBC Radio 4 has run two seasons of "Hut 33" a comedy about Bletchley. It's a typical WWII BBC comedy; Polish jokes, German spies, class warfare, and smutty jokes.
The "Crap-shacks" are where the Historic and important stuff happened.
The main House is very nice (I used it for a seminar a few years back - I'd recommend it as a location for anyone doing something similar) but we are not particularly short of nice old house. Its the complex which is significant and thehastily thrown up wartime buildings are worth preserving, even if they don't look pretty
The summary is way off-beam. The Heritage Lottery Fund is nowhere near stepping in.
I quote: '"We are in serious discussions with the Heritage Lottery Fund. This is prime Lottery territory," said Greenish. "We haven't put in an application yet, but the rules have changed a bit which is helpful."'
Here's how HLF works. You put the application in. This is serious, serious hard work. It's not just "fill in a form and post it to PO Box Lottery". Expect to have a full-time team working on it for three months at least: and even then, really deserving projects have done exactly that and found themselves rejected.
Ok, so your application is good (and, just as important, there aren't any better ones at the time - HLF only has a finite pot of money, and in fact it's getting smaller, as the UK Government takes from it to fund the Olympics). You then get a "Stage One Pass".
This doesn't mean you have the money. This means they'll give you a small grant to help you with the cost of preparing the real application. At this point, they want to know everything: your projected finances, how it's going to benefit public access to an important bit of heritage, how you'll make it sustainable to avoid coming back for another hand-out in three years' time, the works. Remember that the Lottery funds were seriously burned in their early days by the fiasco of the Millennium Dome. They don't give it out lightly.
If you're really good, you might get through this and get the Stage Two Pass. This means you've got the money. (Where, incidentally, "the money" is probably much less than you wanted in the first place, because there's so much competition that the HLF advisors have warned you your only chance is if you lodge a lower bid.)
Oh... one more thing. HLF doesn't generally fund the entirety of a project. They give "match funding". In other words, "we'll pay 50% of the costs if you can find 50% from someone else".
So, with that in mind, allow me to rephrase the summary. "Britain's Lottery Fund has changed some rules to potentially allow these guys to apply for a grant which entitles them to prepare a proper application for a grant which might, if they're very lucky, pay for half the cost of a reduced-cost version of your total project." Sorry, not quite as catchy.