The Royal National College for the Blind (RNC) is a co-educational specialist residential college of further education based in the English city of Hereford. Students who attend the college are aged 16 to 25 and blind or partially sighted. They can study a wide range of qualifications at RNC, from academic subjects such as English and Mathematics to more vocational topics such as Massage and Complementary Therapies. Alongside regular further education subjects and vocational training, the college offers training in mobility, assistive technology, Braille, independent living skills and personal development.
Founded in 1872 in London as the Royal Normal College and Academy for the Blind, the college had a number of homes before moving to its campus in Hereford; it was renamed The Royal National College for the Blind in the late 1970s. It has been a pioneer in the education of visually impaired people in Britain since the Victorian era, and, as of 2010, is the only college for visually impaired students in the United Kingdom to have been awarded Beacon Status in recognition of its outstanding teaching and learning.
RNC hosts the UK's first VI Sports Academy, having begun as the home of the first football academy for visually impaired players and the England blind football team. It hosted the 2010 World Blind Football Championship and also served as a training facility for participants in the 2012 Paralympic Games. The college is actively involved in the development of assistive technology, including student participation in the Tech Novice Cafe, run for members of the public who are not confident in computer use. Two notable devices were developed at RNC; the Mountbatten Brailler, an electronic braille writer, and the T3, a talking tactile device that helped with the reading of maps and diagrams.
Early in the 21st century, there was departmental restructuring at the college, and a significant redevelopment and modernisation of the Hereford campus. The campus, located on Venns Lane, Hereford, is home to RNC's teaching, residential and leisure facilities. Students live in halls of residence, which enable them to gain a level of independence within the college environment. RNC operates a leisure facility, thePoint4, which is open to the public.
The college is a registered charity (number 1000388), and its patron is King Charles III. There are several high-profile supporters, including Dave Clarke, former captain of the England and Great Britain blind football teams. RNC has a number of notable people among its alumni, including former Home Secretary David Blunkett. The college was the subject of a 2007 film for the Channel 4 Cutting Edge documentary strand, which followed three students through their first term of study. The film won a 2008 Royal Television Society Award.
History
Early years
The college was established in 1871 by the English philanthropist Thomas Rhodes Armitage and the American anti-slavery campaigner Francis Joseph Campbell, who lost his sight as a young boy. Campbell had originally planned to establish a college for the blind in the United States, but was persuaded by Armitage that London would be a more suitable location. At the time, English schools for the blind did not provide their students with the skills to become independent and, dissatisfied with this situation, Armitage dreamed of establishing a school whose emphasis was on music and which would prepare its students for careers as organists, piano tuners, and music teachers.
With donations of £3,000, the college enrolled its first two students on 1 March 1872. Queen Victoria became its first patron, while several prominent members of her family became vice-patrons. Among those to become governors of the college were Duke of Westminster, Lord Shaftesbury, Lord Lichfield and W. H. Smith. At the time of its founding it was called "The Royal Normal College and Academy for the Blind". The word normal, more commonly used in American English, referred to the teacher training offered by the college, with Campbell recruiting many of his teaching staff from the United States.
Originally located in two small buildings on Anerley Hill near London's Crystal Palace, the college later moved to larger accommodation at Westow Street, Upper Norwood where the name "College Green" commemorates the college – its grounds are now Westow Park – after rapidly outgrowing its original premises. In its early days, the college was considered very progressive and experimental in its approach to education. A history of the college on its website describes the curriculum as "liberal and advanced for its day", and emphasis was placed on physical activities such as swimming, cycling and roller-skating. Students even took part in a morning of tobogganing following a heavy fall of snow. By the end of the 19th century, the college had over 200 students. Until World War II the college admitted 11- to 15-year-olds, but in 1945 the principal of RNC and headmaster of Worcester College for the Blind came to an agreement that Worcester would provide secondary education and RNC would take students over the age of 16.
As well as being one of its founders, Francis Joseph Campbell served as RNC's first principal, from 1871 until his retirement in 1912. He was knighted as a Knight Bachelor by King Edward VII in 1909, for his services to blind people. He was succeeded by his son, Guy Marshall Campbell, and following his death in 1929 Guy's widow, Louie Bealby Campbell took over the position. The role of principal passed outside the Campbell family for the first time upon Louie Bealby Campbell's retirement in 1934.
Relocation
In the 20th century, the college moved location several times before establishing itself at its present campus in Hereford. The first of these moves occurred at the beginning of World War II, when the college was evacuated from its London site and moved to a mansion named Great Maytham in Rolvenden in west Kent. However, because of the threat of a German invasion, the authorities soon advised another move, and this time, with 24 hours' notice and the help of the London Society for the Blind, a temporary home was found for RNC in Dorton, near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. At the time of the move most of the students were on holiday, although some thirty had remained at the college along with several staff members.
The college did not return to London because the Upper Norwood site – which was being used as a hospital following RNC's move to Kent – was bombed in 1940 during the Blitz, then acquired by the authorities. The college had to close temporarily, until a permanent new home could be found, but in 1941 it purchased new premises at Rowton Castle near Shrewsbury in Shropshire and relocated there. The castle was built in the 17th century and is situated in of grounds six miles (10 km) west of Shrewsbury. This accommodation had limited space, and throughout its time in Shropshire RNC acquired other premises in and around Shrewsbury. Albrighton Hall, about three miles (5 km) from Shrewsbury, was acquired in 1955 and adapted for residential and training purposes for male students, and Hardy House was obtained as a new residential area for female students in 1958. Plans to enlarge the Rowton site were seriously affected when, in 1953, fire destroyed much of the buildings and 38 pianos and organs. The alarm was raised by one of the students, and everybody present was evacuated to safety. Training was able to continue after Henshaw's Institution for the Blind took students and staff as a temporary measure.
RNC remained in Shropshire for many years until, in 1978, more suitable accommodation was found that would enable RNC to consolidate its teaching and residential accommodation into one campus, and the college moved to its current home in Hereford. The site had previously been the campus of Hereford College of Education, a former teacher training college. In 1978 the college adopted its present name, the Royal National College for the Blind. RNC was opened at its new campus by Prince Charles, who arrived in Hereford by helicopter to perform the ceremony in 1979.
Hereford
In the early 2000s the halls of residence at the Hereford campus underwent an extensive £1.5 million upgrade. The blocks were originally built when the campus was being used as a teacher training college during the 1960s and were updated to include modern facilities such as larger student bedrooms with en-suite bathrooms and space for televisions and computers, and improved social areas.
In 2006 the college announced an extensive expansion of its campus, including new halls of residence, a sports and complementary therapy building and a new outdoor floodlit sports pitch. The £21.5m sports development would be the venue for the 2010 World Blind Football Championship. A£10 million fundraising campaign, Building Brighter Futures, was created to raise the funds required to complete the project, and construction work began in the summer of 2007. The complex, thePoint4, was originally named The Point after a nearby block of flats. It includes a bistro and conference facilities, and commenced operation in April 2009, and was officially opened on 24 June by BBC Sport presenter and Daily Mail columnist Des Kelly. In 2008 the college was nominated as one of the sites for the 2012 Paralympic Games and acted as a pre-Games training camp for Paralympic athletes.
RNC was the subject of a 2007 documentary for the Channel Four series Cutting Edge, which followed three young students (Steve Markham, Daniel Angus and Selina Litt) during their first term at the college. The film examines their individual journeys towards greater independence as they encounter the unique challenges that being visually impaired presents, as well as how they deal with the everyday issues that affect all teenagers, such as sex, relationships, partying and their future plans after graduation. The documentary, Blind Young Things, was first aired on 30 April 2007, and won a Royal Television Society award for Channel Four and the Cutting Edge team in 2008.
In September 2009 the college became the permanent home of the National BlindArt Collection, a collection of paintings, sculptures, installations and other works of art designed to engage all the senses and to provide people who are visually impaired with greater accessibility to art. In November 2009 RNC announced that it had been forced to send a third of its students home following an outbreak of swine flu on campus. During the heavy winter snowfall of 2009–2010 the college's sports facilities were utilised by the Hereford United team for training after the bad weather conditions made using their own grounds at Edgar Street difficult.
In January 2010 two students from the college appeared with the fashion consultant Gok Wan in an edition of the Channel 4 series How to Look Good Naked...with a Difference, where they took part in a photo shoot. The series sought to highlight confidence issues among people with disabilities. In February 2010 the college secured a £90,000 grant from the Learning and Skills Improvement Service to install a music video production studio enabling bands to record material and showcase their work.
RNC celebrated its 140th anniversary in March 2012 with a day of events at its campus and a street collection in Hereford.
Restructuring