Celebrating 130 years of Calderdale College
Throughout May 2023, Calderdale College proudly celebrated its 130th anniversary!
We have been a key part of our local community since 1893, and have been changing lives ever since.
Some interesting facts you might not know about Calderdale
College…
- The College was originally named Halifax Technical College
- We have over 4,000 students and 450 members of staff
- We offer everything from Animal Care to Engineering
- We work with more than 400 employers across Calderdale
- We have a University Centre on campus, the only University Centre in Calderdale
To mark the occasion, we celebrated with a range of activities…
No birthday is complete without cake!
We worked with local bakery, Lucy’s Little Bake House, to create a masterpiece birthday cake which paid tribute to our local community.
Lucy Chapple of the bakery made a 3-tier cake that was then iced and decorated with edible buildings by our very talented teaching team Kate Haigh, Jordan Dungworth and Simon Taylor.
It showcased famous Calderdale landmarks including Wainhouse Tower, Victoria Theatre and the College itself, and was inspired by local artist, Kate Lycett, who is known for her method of layering objects.
Calderdale College x Ellie Sax
Well-known Ministry of Sound artist and saxophonist, Ellie Sax went behind the scenes to produce a music video putting a spotlight on key areas across the College!
From Ibiza to Calderdale, Ellie joined us to highlight the wide range of courses on offer for students.
Watch the video here!
Vintage pictures
To reminisce on the past 130 years, we collaborated with the Halifax Courier to publish a gallery of photos dating back as far as 1957.
We worked with local photographers, the Halifax Library to collect the timeline of imagery of the College and surrounding areas, featuring key moments in history such as the construction of the Percival Whitley Centre building.
We then collaborated with a group of our Performing Arts students to recreate one of the iconic images of construction workers on the roof of the main campus building in the year it opened, dressed in 1950s work attire.
Charity basketball match
We hosted a special basketball match, the Bradford Dragons Basketball Academy vs Calderdale College staff, to raise awareness and funds for the Percival Whitley Education Trust! The Trust was set up in memory of Percival Whitley who worked throughout his lifetime to ensure education was accessible to all, and it has played a critical role in supporting Calderdale College over the years. So, it was only right that we gave something back!
The staff team had help from former division one Bradford Dragons player Great Osobor, who has secured a place with Utah’s NCA team following two years playing in Montana.
Congratulations to the staff team for winning a nail-biting game which saw them finish 56-53!
Birthday messages from our community
We received some lovely happy birthday messages from some of our partners and local community.
The likes of Northern, Ellie Sax, Leeds United Foundation, Calderdale Council, Amy Hardcastle and The Voice contestant Callum Butterworth all shared their well wishes.
Watch the video here!
It has been a fabulous month of activity celebrating the College’s 130th anniversary. Here’s to the next 130 years!
