Preserving the legacy of Tommy Flowers: uncovering lost histories

Preserving the Legacy of Tommy Flowers: Uncovering Lost Histories of Mid-20th Century Computing Innovation

Join us for a landmark event celebrating the incredible life and work of Tommy Flowers, the visionary engineer behind the world's first semi-programmable computer, Colossus!

This significant project has been spearheaded by Garry Hunter, a seasoned creative community outreach expert. Garry, with a background spanning marine engineering and 25 years in photography, shifted his focus to fostering collaborative creative learning, notably leading the £2m 'Cultural Spring' initiative in South Shields and Sunderland. In 2017, he founded the Tommy Flowers Community Pub on the Aberfeldy estate in Poplar, east London. Named after the local hero Tommy Flowers, this initiative rapidly grew beyond a traditional pub, becoming a celebrated "new model of creative community engagement." It provided unique opportunities for local people and youth groups, from stop-motion film creation to Arduino plant animation with engineers from Roskilde University. His work at the pub was recognized by The House of Lords and influenced Mayoral policy.

Garry successfully secured the funding for this project, with The National Museum of Computing (TNMOC) providing essential support for the application. Though the successful pub is now being redeveloped, Garry continues his dedication to Tommy Flowers' legacy, now focusing efforts in Fitzrovia with new partners at the University of Westminster.

TNMOC, home of the reconstructed Colossus in its original Block H, is proud to host this special occasion. We're thrilled to mark Gary's successful projcets and the support from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and unveil a significant new addition to our collection: the Tommy Flowers Mural in its new, prominent home. This striking piece, previously gracing the Tommy Flowers community pub, will now inspire new visitors right here at TNMOC, facing our entrance.

Discover the often-overlooked history of mid-20th century computing, an era of profound innovation that shapes our digital world today. Learn about Flowers' pivotal work at the Post Office Research Station, not just with Colossus, but also his department's role in creating ERNIE, the UK's first lottery computer.

We're also excited to announce that the Colossus Memorial Window, a beautiful etched glass artwork, will join us after the pub's closure, further enriching Flowers' legacy at TNMOC.

This event is more than an unveiling; it's a celebration of untold stories, groundbreaking achievements, and the enduring impact of British ingenuity. Don't miss this unique opportunity to connect with the past and see history come alive!

Garry Hunter_founder of Fitzrovia Noir CIC, the Tommy Flowers Foundation and

the Tommy Flowers community pub in Poplar_Fellow Royal Geographical Society

The son of a coal miner and a chemist, Garry initially studied engineering before

embarking on a 30 year career as a multi-award winning photographer producing

conceptual work with Apple, Cable+Wireless, Cap Gemini, the Design Council,

Digital Audio Research, IBM, ICL, Microsoft, Mondex, NESTA, Sony, the UN and

early touch-screen imagery for BT’s research arm Syntegra, that grew out of the

Post Office Research Station led by Tommy Flowers at Dollis Hill.

Since 2011, his pioneering initiative for social inclusion www.fitzrovianoir.com has

provided creative learning while reinvigorating empty spaces: from a 13th century

château to a Victorian pithead; establishing the Tommy Flowers community pub

out of a GP surgery in Poplar and setting up the creative development Making

Space in the former post office next door. https://tommyflowers.org/about

With a seed grant from the GLA’s Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm, a

new educational initiative, the Tommy Flowers Foundation has emerged from the

pub, leading onto a larger award from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to partner

with The National Museum of Computing (TNMOC) at Bletchley Park. This

current programme Preserving the legacy of Tommy Flowers: uncovering lost

histories of mid-20th Century computing innovation centres on the re-siting of the

mural of Tommy - created by renowned artist Jimmy C - from the gable end of the

soon-to-be-demolished pub to TNMOC, with a celebratory event at the museum on

15th August 2025, the 80th anniversary of the end of World War Two.

Garry currently works from inside the huge pontoon that supports the 300 ton

www.ssrobin.com moored by his east London studio on the Lower Lea at https://

www.trinitybuoywharf.com/architecture/container-city-2 a vessel he is now twinning

with a cable laying barge undergoing refurbishment into an arts and engineering

innovation space at the former Marstal marine engine works on the island of Ærø in

Denmark https://www.illutron.dk

He is arts advisor to the Institute for Healthy Urban Living across 12 schools of

the University of Westminster and a trustee of The Armstrong Project at Jesmond

Banqueting Hall in his home city of Newcastle. He lives between Fitzrovia, Berlin

and Rome, where he is establishing a residency programme on a long-empty 2.5

acre rural site by Lake Bracciano, that has already hosted a sustainable building

project with architecture students from the University of Suffolk at Ipswich. He was

a visiting artist at Roskilde University 2017-18 that involved the design and build of

a sonic interface using a Tesla coil inside a Faraday cage https://vimeo.com/

238282944 Garry is the author of 12 publications, with translations into Bengali,

Czech, French, Brazilian Portuguese and Swedish.

https://www.intellectbooks.com/garry-hunter

https://communityinterestcompanies.blog.gov.uk/2021/07/01/fitzrovia-noir-cic-

broadening-access-to-the-arts/