Oatridge College

Oatridge Achievements in 2007

Double hat-trick for Oatridge College students in prestigious awards

February 2007

Barrie Lewis, an 18 year-old old apprentice greenkeeper from Bridgend in West Lothian was named Scottish Landbased Learner of the Year by Lantra the sector skills council, making it the third year in a row that students from Oatridge College picked up the prestigious title.

Barrie was the overall winner and the winner of the Scottish Enterprise regional title and picked up the Peter Alexander Perpetual Trophy and £850 cash prize at an event at the Huntingtower Hotel in Perthshire. His success follows that of the 2006 winner, 23 year-old farriery apprentice Sarah Mary Brown, from Giffnock near Glasgow, and the 2005 victory of Colin Inglis, an agriculture apprentice from Aberdour in Fife.

£3.5 million Oatridge Learning Centre opened 

February 2007

Viscount Chelsea has returned to Oatridge College in West Lothian to mark the completion of a project he launched just over 18 months ago, when he cut the first sod to start construction of a new £3.5 million learning centre.

The philanthropist and businessman performed the official opening ceremony and with other VIP guests, toured the state-of-the-art facilities, which include 14 classrooms and lecture rooms, laboratory and IT suite. 

Lord Chelsea is a trustee of his family's Cadogan charity, which sponsors a yearly exchange programme, allowing Oatridge agriculture students to visit Kirkwood Community College in the US state of Iowa and see something of American farming methods. 

Top learner's award for College granddad

May 2007

Fifty-one year old Livingston granddad David Boland, who studied for a modern apprenticeship in horticulture and landscaping at Oatridge College, was named as one of Scotland's top adult learners in May 2007.

David, who is a foreman gardener with the Dunedin Canmore Housing Association in Edinburgh and lives with his wife Barbara in Murieston, received the Scottish Qualifications Authority Award at a glittering ceremony at Ingliston to mark Adult Learners' Week 2007. He was chosen by the Scottish Adult Learning Partnership from 350 nominations.

Royal Day for Oatridge

May 2007

Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Rothesay has visited Oatridge College in West Lothian to perform the official opening of the £3.5 million first phase of the new Scottish National Equestrian Centre. Six months after she became Patron, HRH spent 90 minutes at the Centre and later let it be known that she had "Loved" her visit and was "Most impressed" by the facility.

The SNEC opened it doors in February, with equestrian students from Oatridge the first riders to try it out but since then it has rapidly become the focus of the full range of equestrian sports in Scotland. The Duchess met numerous staff and students from the specialist landbased College before and after cutting a ribbon to mark the official opening of the Centre, which was part-funded by sportscotland and Scottish Enterprise Edinburgh and Lothians. During her visit she watched displays in the massive main arena, including dressage, equestrian vaulting and stunt riding, but the climax of the event was an historic grand parade which saw representatives of every equestrian body and breed society in Scotland together for the first time.

Workshops completion sparks Oatridge ambitions

May 2007

Oatridge College has taken another major step towards becoming a Centre of Excellence for landbased education and training, by commissioning new farriery and engineering workshops, built at a cost of £1.5 million on its campus in West Lothian.

It is the third major project to be completed in the first five months of this year under an £8.5 million development programme, which has already seen the opening of the international standard Scottish National Equestrian Centre (SNEC) and a state-of-the-art Learning Centre.  

Top award for Oatridge's "rubbish" garden

June 2007

Staff and students from Oatridge College in West Lothian claimed the top prize at the 2007 Gardening Scotland show...with a plot featuring old tyres, rusting drinks cans, recycled wellies, battered work boots and a greenhouse made of empty bottles.

Ann Burns and John Smith, who are horticulture lecturers at the specialist landbased College designed the 5x4 metre garden to demonstrate to amateur enthusiasts how to achieve stunning effects on a low budget, by using the sort of material most of us throw away every day.

Ex-student Andrea found the "purrfect" job

September 2007

Former Oatridge College student Andrea Middleton has found the "purrfect" job - and a little bit of fame - after going through her training with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals under the watchful eye of the television cameras.

The ex-hairdresser, who comes originally from Helensburgh, was one of six trainees featured in the recent channel five series "RSPCA: Have you got what it takes?"  They were in a group of 19 hopefuls and had to cope with all kinds of problems and challenges over seven gruelling months.

Oatridge College awarded for inclusion projects

November 2007

Oatridge College in West Lothian has been recognised at a major awards ceremony for two unique initiatives offering access to education, training and hop to people trapped on the fringes of society.

The College's Rural Skills Academy has had outstanding success in helping students from deprived urban areas to make a new start in careers in the rural industries. Some had to overcome learning or behavioural difficulties, while others had to break out of a spiral of drinking, or drug-taking and/or criminal activity. The project received the prize for Promoting Equality and Diversity at the Scotland's College's Annual Awards for 2007. At the same glittering ceremony in Glasgow's Hilton Hotel, Oatridge's Suntrap Garden was commended in the Student Learning category, for a programme of Horticultural Therapy aimed at groups from day centres for adults with complex learning difficulties.