St. John's College, Nottingham U.K -My Theological College (Seminary) is closing

St. John's College, Nottingham, U.K.  my theological  Alma Mater, and dear to my heart in many ways will close in September 2020.    I trained there for ordained ministry between 1972 and 1976.

St. John's had a life span of 135 years,  It flourished in the olden days when the typical path to ordination in the C of E  was for men
who had completed high school; had taken a Bachelors Degree at Oxford, Cambridge  or some lesser University!; and almost immediately (at age about 23), had entered a Theological College.

Even by my time that pattern had begun to unravel.  I was 28 years old when I enrolled at St. John's, sans any prior degree,

My way was paid by a generous grant from the County Council of Oxfordshire  - in which County I was living at the time,

Those County grants have all but dried up. 

The typical seminarian is now more likely to be female than male; and/or in her or his thirties or even forties. For such there are  no Government grants.

The dough is no longer there.

So my College (St, John's, Nottingham, U.K. )  will close its doors next year,  It's sad, but inevitable, 

Here is what I wrote to some of my former class mates and professors.


I will always be grateful for the College;  the friendships I made which have endured; the pastoral care from staff such as Colin Buchanan and Steve Travis; the high quality of my education;  at College and at the University of Nottingham..


Pove