Farewell Walton Street

Comrades,
I spent my last night ever at Walton Street last night. The last time someone (apart from Keiron the warden) is able to sleep here is now gone as Walton Street prepares for the rundown (quite literally) in the move to the single site in Headington.

An unrivalled legacy in the history of working class education

The current good weather means that working progresses well in Headington, but the new site will struggle to capture the strength and vigour of what the Walton Street site represented.

I am re-reading the history of Ruskin written in the 90s by Harold Pollins and, as many of you will know, Walton Street presented a literal two fingers to Oxford University despite its small stature compared to its rivals across the city.

In truth though the size of the College then was neither here nor there, what it represented then was a milestone in the history of working class education.

As John Ruskin himself said: What we think, or what we know, or what we believe is, in the end, of little consequence. The only consequence is what we do.

We can only hope that Ruskin College can continue to 'do' education for working class men and women in the way that our founders hoped.

I for one commit myself to that aim.

In Solidarity

Ian