A COLLEGE is calling on former students to help them celebrate its 60th birthday. Shuttleworth College will be celebrating its diamond anniversary on May 7 with a garden party and want as many old students as possible to join in the fun. The party will fo

A COLLEGE is calling on former students to help them celebrate its 60th birthday.

Shuttleworth College will be celebrating its diamond anniversary on May 7 with a garden party and want as many old students as possible to join in the fun.

The party will follow a college association dinner which will be held the previous evening.

Shuttleworth College opened its doors in 1946 and soon became one of the finest centres for agricultural education in the country under the guidance of James Bond, Ken Russell and then John Scott.

The darkest hour during its 60 years was when, in 1996, in the year of its 50th anniversary, Cranfield University, which had taken over the college a few years earlier, decided that Shuttleworth was no longer an economically viable proposition.

The following year, with the help of the Shuttleworth Trust and as part of Writtle College in Chelmsford, Shuttleworth re-opened just like it had done in 1946 with two students.

Now there are around 38 full time students with another 350 part-time and the college is bigger than it has ever been. It has diversified to embrace all that is considered land-based and rural and concentrates its efforts on what is known as the further education sector dealing in practical and vocational course.

But like all organisations, Shuttleworth has had to embrace change and is unique in the fact that it closed, was able to restart and now has a sound base for the future.

A new college director will start in September guided by a new college principal at Writtle.

It is expected the two organisations will continue to work in harmony to serve land-based industry and particularly agriculture.

Anyone wanting further information should contact the college administrator Jane Hawes on 01767 626215.