Monday May 11th 2020
The Turing Trust’s recycled computers being used in Malawi, Africa.
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Marie Sharp
The family of World War Two codebreaker Alan Turing have bought an industrial unit in Midlothian to help a trust set up in his name.
The Turing Trust has been given the go ahead to move into the unit in Loanhead and adapt it to help its work supporting education in Africa.
Mr Turing was a leading figure at Bletchley Park during the 2nd World War and a brilliant mathematician and code breaker who was credited with doing much to assit an Allied victory
The trust, set up in his name supports education in sub-Saharan Africa by reusing computers and improving teacher training.
They provide development skills in the UK to make use of redundant IT equipment provided by big business users, which reduces waste and contributes to an environmentally friendly society.
In a planning application lodged with Midlothian Council, agents for the trust said Dermont Turing, Alan’s nephew and his wife Nicola had bought the unit and were allowing them to use it free of charge.
They said they current pay £8,500 rent for their Scottish base in Newbridge, and the immediate impact of freeing up those funds would be huge.
They said: ”With this money they will be able to install a further 650 PCs into African classrooms enabling 12,000 students to learn vital IT skills.
“Beyond the above very obvious benefits, their work has a significant environmental impact by offsetting 183 tonnes of CO2 emissions from reusing redundant pc’s which is the equivalent of planting 457 trees or offsetting the annual carbon footprint of 19 Scots.
“The embodied energy savings created are also enough to power 45 Scottish homes for a year.”
The agents also revealed that under the COvid-19 lockdown they were receiving calls for help from school in the United Kingdom who needed IT support.
They said: “Over the last few weeks due to COVID-19 they have had lots of requests from UK schools to assist with IT equipment for home learning etc.
“Therefore for every day that they are able to move into Pentland earlier this will have a dramatic impact on their activities and the number of people they are able to help. ”
Planning officers approved the application.
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