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The SaveWMC Campaign

Welcome to SaveWMC.org, a website run by a group of volunteers dedicating their time and efforts to counter the unnecessary closure of Wedgwood Memorial College by Stoke-on-Trent City Council. Our campaign group proposes that the College be run as an Independent Educational Trust (such as at Knuston Hall), freeing the City Council from its financial responsibility (as happened successfully in the case of Higham Hall).

To this end we were engaged in consultation with the Council and have launched a scheme to raise money so that there is an assured cash flow in place for the first couple of months of operation whilst the Trust waits for receipts to come in from people attending courses. The scheme has raised over £50,000 of pledges.

Wedgwood Memorial College's future does not have to be bleak. Working together we can bring it back to its former glory.

The College After Closure

The College closed on April 1st 2012. Read about our plans to continue the campaign in our fourth newsletter, released at the end of April.

Council Presses On With Closure Plans

Published Date

The SaveWMC campaign has recently been informed by letter from Stoke-on-Trent City Council that the revised business plan has been rejected and that the full Council has voted on and approved the budget proposals, meaning that Wedgwood Memorial College will be closed on April 1st 2012.

Please download our newsletter to get more about what the future holds for the campaign. We're not giving up just yet.

Master Potter Frank Brookes & His Plans For WMC

Published Date

Wedgwood Master Potter and client of Hollywood stars Frank Brookes supports the Campaign and has plans to make the new WMC into a National Centre for education in ceramics and the teaching of pottery skills

Buy WMC Bonds

Published Date

The Trust intends to raise money to assist in the running of the College by issuing bonds to its supporters. They come in several denominations and entitle the purchaser to a series of rewards in exchange, depending on the size of the bond. We set out the provisional pricing structure below.

£10 entitles the purchaser to:

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Updates

Please click this link to see a list of the different updates that we have made so that you don't miss out on any new articles.

Response To Mrs Fairhurst

We are elated with the amount of support that we have received. However, an email from one lady raised issues with the campaign and we are, in the interests of fairness and transparency, happy to respond.

Images of the College (click to enlarge)

The Estoril house. Esperanto House is just around the corner. Photo courtesy of Futurilla on Flickr.

A view of the Limes house from within its grounds. Photo courtesy of Bill Siviter.

A huge, golden leaf dwarfing its less colourful counterparts in the arboretum. Photo courtesy of Dave Joynson, who was Walks Leader for six years of a group who came two to three times a year on residential courses at the College.

A view of the grounds from the dining room. Photo courtesy of Alma Hoogeveen, who visits the College every year from Amsterdam to participate with the group Growing Old Disgracefully.

A sculpture within the beautiful grounds. Photo courtesy of Bill Siviter.

The statue as he is now, symbolically out of commission

The outstanding beauty of Wedgwood Memorial College that the birds see.

Jesper Neergaard's sculpture <em>Sun Song</em>, bequested in honour of the College's links with Esperanto.

A beautiful Magnolia capturing the eye amid Beeches. Photo courtesy of Alma Hoogeveen and provided by Christine Partington, who visits the College regularly from Somerset with the group Growing Old Disgracefully.

WMC's display of mini menhir in spring. Photo courtesy of Judith Taylor of Growing Old Disgracefully.

A jolly <em>putto</em> during autumn. Photo courtesy of Judith Taylor of Growing Old Disgracefully.