Remembering the Queen: Official opening of Bilsborrow campus, 1969

Published: Friday 9 Sep 2022

As the nation mourns the passing of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, we’re taking a moment to look back at some of the occasions where she visited Myerscough College.

Friday, October 17th, 1969, saw the official opening of Myerscough College’s Bilsborrow campus, by Her Majesty, the Queen.

The College was honoured that the Queen accepted a formal invitation to open the site. At 3.40pm, Her Majesty arrived to be greeted by dignitaries and College staff, before touring the library, unveiling an official plaque at the Lecture Theatre, and then viewing a display of College work.

Click here to view our gallery of photos from the day

Former Principal, Tony Fox is one of the most important people in the history of the College, with an association spanning across five decades. In 1968 he was appointed Vice Principal, a position he held when the Queen officially opened the College’s new Bilsborrow campus. He would go on to succeed Frank Peregrine as Principal in 1985, retiring in 1997.

Now in his 80s, a few years ago, we were delighted to welcome Tony back to the campus, and even into his former Principal’s office, to share his memories of the day of the Queen’s visit.

WATCH HERE:

Student memories – Bilsborrow campus 50th anniversary – Trevor Connah | Myerscough College

Student memories - Bilsborrow campus 50th anniversary – Mick Coxhead | Myerscough College

Tony said: ‘’It was a great day. We found out in the summer that she would be coming, and so the biggest job was getting everything ready. The security was very high level, including having snipers in the trees, and officials came to my house on campus to check there was nobody in there and carry out all sorts of checks. The county council were in charge of it all, so it was all run from county hall, with lots of council officials in attendance.

‘’It was a very nerve-wracking occasion. I didn’t expect I would meet her personally, but we had put on a display upstairs in the lecture theatre which she came view. We were asked to line up and myself and the Student Union president explained what was going on. It was a very thrilling day, something quite out of this world.

‘’The staff and students did us proud. It was a great start to Myerscough life.’’