A ROSSENDALE artist is set to attract national interest after designing a first day cover to commemorate one of the fathers of computing.

Rebecca Peacock, 28, grew up in the shadow of Alan Turing, the brilliant mathematician behind the Enigma team which broke Nazi wartime codes.

And the Rawtenstall designer used that inspiration to create the artwork for one of four first day editions based on Turing’s work.

Her design features a portrait of the codebreaker, and a first class Royal Mail ‘Turing Bombe’ stamp, cancelled with a unique postmark.

It is thought the intelligence gained by the Enigma team after they broke Nazi cipher codes shortened the war by about two years.

The commission has been arranged to celebrate the centenary of Turing’s birth.

Rebecca grew up in east Manchester, not far from where Turing forged his career at the city’s university.

She said: “It has been lovely to make that connection with Alan Turing again because I only used to live a few minutes from Alan Turing Way, in Newton Heath.

“But it’s also been interesting for my work and the Royal Mail has asked me to do a few more things for Bletchley Park.”

Her studio, Firecatcher, established in 2006 with fellow artists and Manchester Metropolitan University graduate Sam Tickner, is in Bromley Cross, near Bolton.

But she plans to relocate to the Rossendale valley and is looking at premises in the Rawtenstall area.

Turing created one of the designs for the first computers, at Manchestery.

His prosecution for homosexuality in 1952 was followed by his suspected suicide by cyanide poisoning two years later.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown issued a public apology for the government’s treatment of him in 2009.

The four first day covers, which will be released on February 23, portray Turing's work on mathematics patterns in nature and buildings at Bletchley Park – home of the Enigma.

The other three were created by artist Steve Williams.