November 2002 .. .. |
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 Late in the afternoon of November 11th 2002 unsuspecting staff and students at Seale-Hayne thronged out of their afternoon lectures and meetings. They found e-mails and press releases awaiting them announcing the relocation of their activities to Plymouth. Although this, and the restructuring of the university as a whole, was couched in terms of a discussion document with a consultation period of one month it was fairly clear that the decision had been made.The Vice Chancellor was obviously determined and probably appointed to see the proposals turned into reality. He talked of academic synergy, cognate disciplines, cultural incubation and research excellence, all of which he said would materialise in a cultural quarter in the city of Plymouth. Sure enough the decision to restructure as proposed was made by the governors on 13th December 2002. The story of the university’s submission of an Omission in respect of Seale-Hayne to the Teignbridge Structure Plan in February 2002 then came to light. This, and the subsequent Concept Proposal showing plans for large-scale housing development on the farm, reveals a clear financial motive to have been in place before the restructuring announcements. Despite this, financial reasons were explicitly ruled out in statements in November 2002. |
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Update from The Seale-Haynian Magazine, published May 2011 |
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 Delightfully, these updates are now getting a bit dull, with only good news to report!It feels as though Hannahs has been at Seale-Hayne for centuries. The place is alive with enthusiasm and activity, and having spent the last 10 years turning like the wheels of a ‘Lely Acrobat’ (that dates me!), Charles can now again rest peacefully in his grave and watch Hannahs at Seale-Hayne grow. You will read plenty of comments and reports about the progress of the Hannahs project in the following pages. Suffice it for me to say that if you haven’t called in yet, and you find yourself back in Devon at any time, do make the effort to see what is going on up at your old college. Admittedly, it is not full of young agricultural students starting out on their glittering careers and causing mayhem in the process, but it is still pretty good. You will be made to feel very welcome.The Seale-Haynian Committee has been quite closely involved in the changes thanks mainly to the enthusiasm of Ray Bartlett. He keeps us informed, rallies the troops to help with many tasks at S-H and pecks away at the management until he gets the information that we need to know! Through these pages I would like to thank Ray for the incredible time and effort that he puts in for our club, for Hannahs and for Seale-Hayne. It is very much appreciated.The Seale-Hayne Future Group has only met once in the year. There seems little point in meeting when there is little we can do or influence at the moment. The business of the S-H trust should be on our minds, but in the current economic climate and with the financial pressures that are on UK universities, I would not rate our chances highly of getting any significant further investment into the trust from Plymouth at the present time. The trust is itself performing quite well (report to follow) and, although I believe that an injustice has been done to the Seale-Hayne Charity – which we will follow up in due course, I find that as time passes, the wounds start to heal. There is now a splendid Charles Seale-Hayne Library at the heart of the University with plenty of reference to the man and to the college. And Ray, Simon Daligan, others and myself are also involved in showing the history of S-H in various ways at Hannahs – with huge encouragement from Bronwen Hewitt, CEO of the Dame Hannah Rogers Trust. So we should at least be content that, amongst all the changes that have happened and will happen in the years to come, the Seale-Hayne that we experienced will not be forgotten.
Just by reading the ‘news’ section at the end of this journal, you get a sense of the effect that Seale-Hayne College had on the students who passed through it. It is evident that the place is now having a similar effect on the staff of Hannahs and also on the young adults there, who are experiencing Seale-Hayne for themselves today. And we wish the best of luck to them all! |
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Documents |
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| The following documents relate to the history of the closure from 2002 onwards and go a long way to explaining the sequence of events and some of the feelings of those involved. Please feel free to contact us if you wish to add your thoughts. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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