 | |
| Motto | Inspiring Excellence |
|---|---|
| Established | 1894 (as the Lancashire County Institute of Agriculture) |
| Principal | Wes Johnson |
| Address | St Michael's Road, Myerscough and Bilsborrow , , , PR3 0RY , England 53°51′11″N2°45′47″W / 53.8531°N 2.7631°W |
| Campus | Rural (Preston) |
| Website | www.myerscough.ac.uk |
  Location in the Borough of Wyre | |
Myerscough College (pronounced as Myers-coe) is a Higher and Further Education college near Bilsborrow on the Fylde in Lancashire, England.
Myerscough College was founded on 15 March 1894 as the Lancashire County Institute of Agriculture. [1] [2] The college's origins began in 1890, when the then newly formed Lancashire County Council set up a sub-committee with the remit of making grants available to help local agriculture. The Chairman of the Farming Sub Committee, Reverend Leonard Charles Wood, was responsible for overseeing the purchase and management of a new educational establishment for agriculture. [3]
The original college was based at Home Farm near the village of Hutton, south of Preston, and moved to its current site in 1969, as recorded by a stone plaque unveiled by Queen Elizabeth II [4] on the teaching block built at that time. The new college was built on the site of Myerscough Hall, [5] near St Michael's Road in Bilsborrow, and is in the rural parish of Myerscough and Bilsborrow. [6] In 1993 the college was renamed Myerscough College following the passing of the Further and Higher Education Act 1992.
The college occupies the substantial grounds previously occupied by the hall and farm, extending to River Brock on the north side, and St Michael's Road on the south. The college also leases several local farms, including Lee Farm [2] and Lodge Farm, [7] for agricultural research and teaching purposes. The college estate extends to 605 hectares, and the campus has extensive residential accommodation. [6]
30 June 2017 saw the launch of its Higher Education provision, University Centre Myerscough, in partnership with the University of Central Lancashire, who validates the college's degrees. [8]
Other centres have also been added in Witton Park, Blackburn; Croxteth Hall, Liverpool; Old Trafford Cricket Ground, Manchester and Walton Hall, Warrington. [9] Each offers a variety of land-based, animal or sport courses.
In September 2006, the college was the setting for former BBC Gardeners' World presenter Christine Walkden's television programme, Christine's Garden. Walkden is a former student at the college, [2] and in the programme she gave advice on how to present and sell produce; and she also reminisced about her time at the college. The shows aired on BBC2 in March 2007. [10] On 11 October 2006, Equine expert Monty Roberts, the inspiration for the Robert Redford film, The Horse Whisperer appeared at the college as part of his "The Horses in My Life" tour. [11] On 20 February 2007, Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex visited the college and toured around the college's agricultural education facilities, where he was said to be very impressed by the welcome he received at the college. [12] And in June 2007, the Bishop of New York, the Right Rev E Don Taylor, spent three days at the college, as part of a two-month sabbatical learning about the mission and ministry of rural communities and churches. [13]
In 2011 the college had over 7,000 students, of whom 2,500 were full-time, with about 1,000 studying Higher Education. Subjects to study at Myerscough College include arboriculture, agriculture, ecology, countryside management, motorsports, mechanisation, sports and leisure, golf, landscape design, animal care, equine studies, horticulture, sportsturf, photography, and farriery/metalwork. Short courses for industry range from crane handling to crop spraying, and short leisure courses from caravan manoeuvring to floristry. Many leading football groundsmen study turf science at Myerscough. [14] It has also been in the forefront of developing on-line and blended learning courses for the land-based industries, allowing students to work full or part-time and to study on-line to complete foundation degree and Honour degree programmes.
In August 2005, the college announced a partnership with Lancashire County Cricket Club where they would offer students the opportunity to study at the club's indoor cricket centre for a national diploma combining academic studies in sport with practical skill development in cricket. [15]
Myerscough College is home to the National Centre for arboriculture, and is recognised internationally for its specialism in this subject. [16] [ better source needed ]
There is an equine arena, a nine-hole golf course [17] and simulated golf training centre, the plant centre, an off-road driving track, nine-hole disc golf course, sports fields and a sports centre and gymnasium, as well as an arboretum, woods, fields, ponds and the River Brock on the site. The Frank Peregrine Higher Education Centre was opened in 2006 and extended in 2010.
The college houses the Rural Business Centre, which provides support for rural business in the form of courses, advice, links and the Rural Business Incubator for start-up businesses.[ citation needed ]
The sports centre, which cost £1.8M, was opened in 2004, and contains a golf studio. [17] In May 2007, the college opened a milking parlour at Lodge Farm which can facilitate 50 cows at one time, which the college stated showed their long-term commitment to agriculture. [7] A further development in sport came in 2016 with the opening of the High Performance Sports Centre. The state-of-the-art facility cost £3.2 million and complements the College's existing Sports Centre. The works consisted of the demolition and removal of an existing Sportsturf centre and workshop, as well as the demolition of a derelict, disused pavilion, to make way for the erection of the new build, which includes a purpose-built hall as well as a Strength & Conditioning suite and offices, and a separate new Sportsturf Management facility. [18]
In 2017, the College opened its Food and Farming Innovation and Technology (FFIT) Centre for industry training and research in beef production. The main FFIT Centre is a red brick, two-storey building to house the research and teaching facilities that link with the various technologies in the nearby Livestock Innovation Centre and farm. This includes specialist teaching, demonstration and research facilities including a teaching laboratory, soil laboratory, instrumentation room, production development kitchen, as well as a conference room, general teaching rooms, offices, a dining area and changing facilities. [19] [ better source needed ]
Blackpool is a seaside resort town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately 27 miles (43 km) north of Liverpool and 14 miles (23 km) west of Preston. It is the main settlement in the borough of the same name. The population of Blackpool at the 2021 census was 141,000, a decrease of 1,100 in ten years.
Kirkham aka Kirkam-in-Amounderness is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Fylde in Lancashire, England, midway between Blackpool and Preston and adjacent to the town of Wesham. It owes its existence to Carr Hill upon which it was built and which was the location of a Roman fort. At the census of 2011, it had a population 3,304 plus 3,890, giving a total of 7,194. By the census of 2021 the total had risen to 3,217 plus 4,666, giving a total of 7,883.
Lytham St Annes is a seaside town in the Borough of Fylde in Lancashire, England. It is on the Fylde coast, directly south of Blackpool on the Ribble Estuary. The population of the built-up area at the 2021 census was 42,695. The town is made up of the four areas of Lytham, Ansdell, Fairhaven and St Annes-on-the-Sea.
Wyre is a local government district with borough status on the coast of Lancashire, England. The council is based in Poulton-le-Fylde and the borough also contains the towns of Cleveleys, Fleetwood, Garstang, Preesall and Thornton, along with numerous villages and surrounding rural areas. Some of the borough's built-up areas form part of the wider Blackpool urban area. Eastern parts of the borough lie within the Forest of Bowland, a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Poulton-le-Fylde, commonly shortened to Poulton, is a market town in Lancashire, England, situated on the coastal plain called the Fylde. In the 2021 United Kingdom census, it had a population of 18,115.
Blackpool and The Fylde College (B&FC) is a further and higher education college in Blackpool, Lancashire, England.
WCG is the managing body that administers several colleges of further education in the English West Midlands, namely in the counties of Warwickshire and Worcestershire. Its most recent acquisition concerned its August 2016 merger with South Worcestershire College of which the two campuses then reverted to their historical names of Evesham College in Evesham and Malvern Hills College in Great Malvern. The merger makes it the largest group of further and adult education institutions in the country and one of the five colleges in the United Kingdom empowered by the Privy Council with the authority to award Foundation Degrees
Bispham is a village on the Fylde coast in the Borough of Blackpool in Lancashire, England.
Guildford College of Further and Higher Education (GCFHE) in Guildford, Surrey was a Surrey County Council-funded educational establishment for students of age 16+ undertaking full-time and part-time studies, established in 1939. It became part of oxford-based group Activate Learning in March 2019, and left Surrey County Council control.
Medlar-with-Wesham is a civil parish and an electoral ward on the Fylde in Lancashire, England, which contains the town of Wesham. It lies within the Borough of Fylde, and had a population of 3,245 in 1,294 households recorded in the 2001 census rising to 3,584 in 1,511 households, at the 2021 census.
Catterall is a village and civil parish in the borough of Wyre, Lancashire, England. Historically in the Amounderness Hundred, it is situated on the A6 between Lancaster and Preston, a short distance from the town of Garstang, and Myerscough College. The rivers Wyre, Calder and Brock run through the parish and in places form the parish boundary.
Claughton is a sparse village and civil parish in the county of Lancashire in the north of England, in the Borough of Wyre. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 633. It is sometimes called Claughton-on-Brock to distinguish it from another Claughton in Lancashire in the Lune valley between Lancaster and Hornby.
Steven John Croft is an English first-class cricketer who has played for Lancashire County Cricket Club since 2005. He bats right-handed and can bowl both medium-fast and off breaks. In 2008 Croft was given the Lancashire members' Player of the Year and One-Day Player of the Year awards. In 2008/09 he played for the Auckland Aces in New Zealand as an overseas player. Awarded his Lancashire cap in 2010, Croft was part of the Lancashire team that won the County Championship in 2011.
Christine Helen Walkden is a British television presenter and gardener, best known for her appearances on gardening programmes and The One Show. She has hosted her own series centred on her home garden in Sawbridgeworth, Christine's Garden, on the BBC.
Sarah Myerscough is an English artist and sculptor, based in Blackpool, Lancashire.
The Royal Lancashire Show (RLS) is an agricultural show which takes place every year at different locations throughout the historical county boundaries of Lancashire in Northern England. The show is organised by the Royal Lancashire Agricultural Society (RLAS) and is one of Britain's oldest agricultural shows, first taking place in 1767.
Myerscough and Bilsborrow is a civil parish in the Borough of Wyre in Lancashire, England. It was formed on 1 April 2003 as a merger of the former parishes of Bilsborrow and Myerscough, and lies on the eastern border of the Fylde plain.
Stanley Park is a public park in the town of Blackpool on the Fylde coast in Lancashire, England. It is the town's primary park and covers an area of approximately 104 hectares. The park was designed to include significant sporting provisions, along with formal gardens, a boating lake and woodland area. It was designed and built in the 1920s, under the eye of Thomas Mawson.
Paul Burgess is an English groundskeeper who specialises in turf management of football pitches. He is recognised as the world leader in turf management, and has won five Premier League Groundsman of the Year awards and accolades from the Institute of Groundsmanship.
Public transport in the Fylde is available for three modes of transport—bus, rail and tram—assisting residents of and visitors to the Fylde, a coastal plain in western Lancashire, England, without their own vehicle, to travel around much of the area's 64 square miles (170 km2).
