Wymondham College

The early twentieth century saw the site change its use from the parkland belonging to neighbouring Morley Hall to a golf links. However, with the outbreak of the World War II, food production was a priority and the site was taken over by a local farmer, Mr G.L. Peacock, who levelled the tees, filled the bunkers and managed to achieve one season's crop before the site was requisitioned by the Ministry of Works. The club house for the golf links survived, however, and remained in use as the College cricket pavilion until it burned down in the 1970s.

In September 1943 a military hospital opened on the site to support the nearby bases of the 2nd Air Division of US 8th Army Air Force. It was comprised mainly of Nissen huts and other temporary buildings but provided outstanding service firstly to injured airmen returning from bombing raids over occupied Europe and later to American servicemen wounded in the D-Day landings of 1944. These patients were brought by ambulance train to Spooner Row station and then by fleets of ambulances to the hospital. Local people remember ambulances queuing the length of Golf Links Road ready to fetch wounded soldiers from the trains.

Racial segregation was still rife in the American Armed Services, and it is therefore notable that the Morley hospital was one of the few US military hospitals in Britain that was not segregated and where patients received treatment based on the severity of their wounds not the colour of their skin.

With the war in Europe won, the hospital closed at midnight on 8th June 1945 but the site remained the property of the War Ministry and became a transit camp for troops of the Royal Norfolk Regiment embarking overseas.

There was a great demand for teachers after the war, so in 1946 the Ministry of Works began the task of converting the vacant hospital site into two training colleges. On 17 June 1947 the two colleges were officially opened by Mr D.R. Hardman, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Education. They were administered jointly by the Ministry of Education and Norfolk Education Committee.

The colleges closed in December 1950 having trained a total of around 1500 teachers for future service in the schools of the County and further afield.

The first Wymondham College students (known as "the pioneers") arrived in April 1951 before the College opened its doors for its first full intake in September 1951. The "temporary" buildings left by the US Army saw many decades of further service as dormitories, classrooms, laboratories, common rooms and staff accommodation. It was only in the 1990s that a significant programme of replacement was commenced. However, the Modern Languages block, the water tower and, of course, the Chapel which is housed in the last remaining Nissen hut, serve as a daily reminder of the sacrifice of the men and women who served at the hospital and of the many who died of their wounds and who are commemorated in the College memorial garden.

Thanks to the vision of the then Director of Education for Norfolk, Sir Lincoln Ralphs, the College flourished and quickly grew, developing the fine reputation which it enjoys to this day. Sir Lincoln's widow, Lady Ralphs retains a close connection with the College as the College Visitor.

During the late 1950s and early 1960s the current boarding houses were built, along with the Sports Centre and Music Block. Each of the houses was named after a prominent person with local roots, including Lincoln Hall, which was named after Abraham Lincoln whose family originated from nearby Hingham. Lincoln Hall was officially opened in October 1958 by US Secretary of State Dean Acheson who was the guest of honour at Speech Day in that year and whose visit served to cement the links between the College and the United States. These links continue today with the close relationship between the College at the USAF and the US 2nd Air Division Memorial Association.

The College Song and the College Prayer used in Chapel remind members of today's College of the heritage in which Wymondham College's present success is rooted.