We need to replace the roof on our collections store - we call it the cache store (what else?!).

Play your part in preserving computing history!

The Cache store houses some of our largest and most precious computers, including our military and DEC machines. It also houses our library of books and cabinets of documents, magazines and historic newspapers.

While we would love to have all these machines for the public to see, we have this building to house what we do not have room to display. We often swap out our collection machines to keep the displays fresh. Or at least we were able to, but the roof has made it unsafe for us to enter the building for any reason other than to monitor or carry out the most essential work.

The machines inside are now not being held in anywhere near the conditions that we would hope them to be; large holes in the roof are letting in water, and the humidity is now at an unacceptable level. Add to this extreme temperature swings, and the time has come for action to be taken to remove the roof entirely, and have insulated roof panels installed.

We have already had to evacuate boxes of documents and books, and we will be removing the majority of the collection held within into the main building, starting at the end of August ready for the work to be done.

So we are asking for your help, any donation you care to make will enable us to carry on our vitally important preservation work on these historical machines, in far more favourable conditions than they find themselves in now.

The building will also be able to house a workshop for our wonderful volunteers, and also another space for quiet study of our 15,000 books and many thousand more documents to any interested parties.

Please donate today and play your part in preserving this computing history! You can donate via our website (link at the top of this and every page) and via Just Giving.

Date : 05-08-2023