The first stage of Project Odyssey, our fundraising campaign launched on 10 March by museum patron Dr Hermann Hauser, is now finished, having raised £100,000! What’s more, as this figure was reached within 30 days, it will be matched by Cambridge based Red Gate Software, bringing the total amount to a staggering £200,000!

The aim was to raise £110,000 to complete the refurbishment of the Centre’s main gallery and create a new core exhibition – Tech Odyssey – which will chart the global impact of the computing revolution.

At the launch, Simon Galbraith, Co-Founder and CEO of Red Gate, surprised everyone by pledging to match every pound donated, up to £100,000, by 11 April.

With all the monies received and counted, CCH trustees Neil Davidson and Ian Williamson, were able to announce the final figure on Friday 17 April.

Luckily there were a few bottles of babycham, left over from the retro buffet served at the fundraising reception, to toast the good news!

CCH Director, Jason Fitzpatrick said: “We have been overwhelmed by the generosity of so many Cambridge companies and individuals who have supported this appeal. We are deeply grateful to each and every one of them.

“In its present condition this building fails to do justice to the richness and variety of the collection. Although visitors can see, touch and use many of the ‘superstar’ machines of the 70s, 80s and 90s, we lacked sufficient funds to show how each of these computers represents a step towards the small, powerful, multi-purpose devices most of us use today.

“Refurbishment of the gallery and creation of Odyssey will help us tell the inspirational and epic story of the computing revolution to anyone – young and old, techie and non-geek alike.”

Dr Andy Harter, Founder and CEO of RealVNC and a major sponsor of Project Odyssey said: “The Centre for Computing History is an important initiative to preserve some of the vital history of the computer industry, which is so strongly linked with Cambridge.

“Equally important, through a diverse educational programme it is stimulating not just curiosity about the past but interest in today’s technology. This is all delivered in a fun, hands-on way that has something for everyone, and RealVNC is proud to be a founding sponsor of the Centre and to reaffirm our commitment with a further substantial donation which will enable significant development of the exhibition area.”

Jason Fitzpatrick concluded: “We know we are an unusual organisation and in many ways have chosen an unorthodox method of establishing a new museum.

"But, hey, in the words of the late, great Steve Jobs, ‘It’s better to be a pirate than to join the navy'! So on that note, I would like to thank all the wonderful people and companies who believe in our work here and what we plan to achieve in the future.”

-Ends-

Photograph: L to R – Jason Fitzpatrick: CCH Director, Jane Phillimore: CCH Projects Manager, Jeremy Thackray: CCH Assistant Curator, Anjali Das: CCH Head of Learning, Ian Williamson: CCH Trustee, Irene Lenive: CCH Volunteer, Andy Harter: Founder and CEO Real VNC, Elaine Symonds: CCH Head of Communications, Neil Davidson: CCH Trustee, Simon Galbraith: Founder and CEO Red Gate Software, Lisa McGerty: CCH Finance Manager

Note to Editors

Centre for Computing History
CCH is an educational charity (1130071). Its core purpose is to increase understanding of developments in computing over the past 60 years by exploring the social, cultural and historical impact of the Computing Revolution.

Since opening in Cambridge in August 2013, the Centre has demonstrated its ability to delight, motivate and excite all age groups through a variety of activities, most recently through the expansion of its educational work with young people. From January 2014, the Centre has worked with schools and academies to deliver education services. To date, over 5,000 children have stepped through its doors to participate in programming and electronics workshops.

Following changes to the national curriculum, which brings the history of computing and coding into the classroom, demand for the Centre’s learning services has intensified. To meet this need an Education Officer was appointed in January 2015.

CCH has an internationally significant collection of vintage computers, memorabilia, artefacts, documents and hands-on displays – in total about 24,000 items. The core collection consists of 800 historic computers as well as mobile phones, games consoles and calculators. CCH is currently developing two new Cambridge-related archives: a Sinclair collection and an Acorn collection. See www.computinghistory.org.uk for more information.

Red Gate Software

Red Gate make ingeniously simple software used by IT professionals worldwide. They only employ less than 300 staff, compared with the thousands at the real Cambridge gorillas like ARM and for that matter the University. Redgate's philosophy is to design highly usable, reliable tools which elegantly solve the problems that developers and database administrators face every day. They see the importance of ensuring that new generations of smart geeks are coming on and imagining a cooler future and are challenging their fellow Cambridge technology companies to help inspire that future.

For further information or images, please contact: Elaine Symonds, Centre for Computing History - Tel: 01223 214446 Or Email: Elaine@computinghistory.org.uk

Date : 17-04-2015