‘Flowers for Turing’ day raises £1,600 for charity
FLOWERS have been left at the statue of Alan Turing to celebrate what would have been his birthday.
The mathematician, computer pioneer and code-breaker was born on June 23 in 1912.
Over the past six years, a group of people who owe their careers to Turing have been leaving flowers at his statue in Sackville Gardens.
Donations are also made to the Special Effect charity, which works to enable people with disabilities to play computer games.
This year people from all over the world have made donations in tribute to Turing, with more than £1,600 being handed over to charity this year.
Joe Reddington, an intervention designer, came up with the idea of leaving floral tributes at the statue when he was visited Manchester in 2013.
The 36-year-old spoke to friends working in computer science at universities across Britain and gathered 18 bunches of flowers to leave at the statue the day before Turing’s birthday. Everybody leaving the flowers also gave a £10 donation to Special Effect.
He said the idea snowballed and when he went back the following day to check on the flowers even more had been added.
Since then Joe has collected donations and flowers on Turing’s birthday every year.
Joe said: “It taps into the longheld affection that people have for Alan Turing and for the work that he did that was not appreciated in his own lifetime.”