Welbeck College

[Terry Rayner]

Hello Troops.
I need some help. Some dealers which have the Welbeck badge, say the college is in Leicestershire, in K/K volume 2 states that it is in Worksop, Notts. What say ye.
Regards Terry

[mike_vee]

Welbeck College History :

"The history of Welbeck College began at Welbeck Abbey, near Worksop in Nottinghamshire. It was opened in September 1953, as a sixth-form college for potential engineering officers for the British Army. "

"The new site, in Leicestershire, was chosen because of its locality to the M1, access to a mainline station and East Midlands Airport, which makes it easily accessible to students from around the UK.

Building work was completed in the summer of 2005 and Welbeck - The Defence Sixth Form College was opened on the 7th September 2005. "

[grey_green_acorn]

The original location at Welbeck Abbey
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welbeck_Abbey

Tim

[mike_vee]

Interesting pdf file about the initial set up at Welbeck Abbey .

WELBECK COLLEGE - THE EARLY YEARS PART 1

[Alan O]

Originally an Army School Welbeck at the Abbey and them moved to be a Defence College and Tri-service. It has now closed.

The Duke of Portland effectively evicted them from Welbeck hence the relocation.

[mike_vee]

Originally Posted by Alan O

Originally an Army School Welbeck at the Abbey and them moved to be a Defence College and Tri-service. It has now closed.

The Duke of Portland effectively evicted them from Welbeck hence the relocation.

Are you sure it has closed

https://www.dsfc.ac.uk/



.

[REME 245]

Closes next year if you google it.

[Alan O]

They have stopped new entries and the next 'graduation' is it's last. A good friend of mine was working as a Company Commander there and was most annoyed as he was a ex-Welbexian.

I think this explains why:

Defence minister Mark Lancaster said that "the scheme as it stands has consistently failed to deliver the required number of engineers and technical officers to Defence since its establishment in 2005" and that "on average only 53 per cent of entrants have completed [the scheme] successfully, and a proportion of those have not achieved STEM degrees." He also noted that "the scheme has cost the Ministry of Defence and the taxpayer some £200,000 per student who has become a STEM graduate".

[oc14]

I worked with Defence Sixth Form College Welbeck (DSFC Welbeck) between 2004 and 2010 and was part of the transition from the old location (at Welbeck in Nottinghamshire) to the new one (at Woodhouse Eaves in Leicestershire). Initially it was "The Army Sixth Form College" but eventually became DSFC and was part of and came under the umbrella of Defence Academy. When it moved to the new location it became "Quad Service" and trained candidates for the Royal Navy, Army, Royal Air Force and MOD Civil Service (I mean, who at age 15 wants to become an MOD Civil Servant !!).
DSFC was a pretty strange place to be honest. At any one time there were only FOUR full time regular military staff there (The CCF Contingent Commander, Adjutant and Training Officer in addition to a Royal Army Physical Training Corps Warrant Officer who doubled up as the College Sgt Major). The Contingent Commander was always army (usually from a technical corps) but the Adjutant and Training Officer posts were usually rotated between RAF and RN. The Cadets there were NOT (contrary to popular opinion) members of the regular forces, they were simply CCF Cadets at an MOD Sponsored Sixth Form College. They wore military uniform usually once a week for CCF Military Training, there was a second CCF training session each week that focussed on "Leadership Training" but was normally in sports kit. The Cadets wore the anodised cap badge in the number one dress hat and a rather nondescript cloth cap badge on a navy blue beret (RAF Cadets wore the badge on an RAF blue beret). All the other officers at DSFC were CCF Officers and were normally members of the college teaching staff or support staff .
Once cadets graduated from DSFC they went to one of six "red brick" universities where they entered the DETUS (Defence Technical Undergraduate Scheme) programme. This required that they became officer cadets in the appropriate DETUS Squadron (a bit like an OTC unit for Welbexians) - the Squadrons included Tornado and Thunderer Squadron amongst others.
Following their three of four year degree course, Welbexians would then go to the appropriate Commissioning College (Dartmouth, Cranwell or Sandhurst) where they would undertake their year long Commissioning course. A Welbeck Student would therefore be "in the system" between 7 or 8 years before they would "command troops"

PL

[oc14]

By the way , for those who aren't familiar with the term STEM - it stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.

PL

[Terry Rayner]

Many thanks lads for all your advice, Leicestershire it is.
Regards Terry

[Alan O]

Unfortunately as they did not attend RCB and often got a free pass through RMAS as they were Welbexian and the Army had already spent so much money on them, the commissioned officers were not all of the same standard.

'Sorry I thought you were a Welbexian?' could result in a punch in the face in many Officers' Messes!

[leigh kitchen]

Originally Posted by oc14

By the way , for those who aren't familiar with the term STEM - it stands for Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.

PL

Now there's a surprise - the "M" didn't stand for "Map reading"...........

[grey_green_acorn]

Originally Posted by Alan O

Unfortunately as they did not attend RCB and often got a free pass through RMAS as they were Welbexian and the Army had already spent so much money on them, the commissioned officers were not all of the same standard.

'Sorry I thought you were a Welbexian?' could result in a punch in the face in many Officers' Messes!

Back in about 1966 I sat what I think was called The Army Scholarship Examination which as Alan says gave a pass through the Regular Commissions Board at Westbury and ‘automatic’ entry to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst at the end of the sixth-form course at Welbeck.

Perhaps fortuitously I failed the examination, but I was commissioned eventually!!

Tim

[oc14]

Originally Posted by grey_green_acorn

Back in about 1966 I sat what I think was called The Army Scholarship Examination which as Alan says gave a pass through the Regular Commissions Board at Westbury and ‘automatic’ entry to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst at the end of the sixth-form course at Welbeck.

Perhaps fortuitously I failed the examination, but I was commissioned eventually!!

Tim

Similar experience, I failed to gain entry in 1975, I commissioned in 1984 and between 2004 and 2010 I was the reporting officer for their biennial staff inspections- that felt quite good after having been rejected by the college !
PL