Some people think that our local population are low aspiration, low application, low achievement.

Come & find out what's happening at Blackburn College! It'll challenge all doubters, fill you with awe & admiration.

I've been on the governing board, in two spells, for just short of 25 years. The College isn't the place it was in 1981, when I first joined. When I was at school I got my O & A levels & was lucky enough to go to university. Those days are gone for many.

Blackburn College is 127 years old, it's dodged & weaved from the height of the first Industrial Revolution, through world wars, the Depression, post war reconstruction, the digital revolution. It's adapted to every governmental "bright idea", curriculum shift, funding lurches.

We have 16,000 students:- apprentices, vocational trainees, A level students, degree & post grad students, some from overseas. We have 1200 talented, hard working staff. All of our buildings, except for the land mark Victoria Building, are 21st century.

We operate in a very competitive market. We have to earn every penny as income. Often it feels that government, every government, doesn't really "get" what transformational differences we make to individuals, families & communities.

We train & teach for the workforce of today & tomorrow. It's a complex set of interrelated tasks. As with all people to people organisations, we don't always get it right.

I was blessed this week to lead our annual strategic seminar attended by the members of the governing body & the senior managers & academic leaders.

Some of the inputs were about how we market the College, introduce & embrace the accelerating digital world & how it transforms the shrinking world of education, how we work closely with schools, how we are adept at adapting to the "changeaholic" challenges of education fads, how we try to engage with local industry & commerce to make a better "fit" for now & an ever changing future.

I listened to our staff & students. You can rest assured that we will continue to strive to deliver, sometimes despite the terrain upon which we operate.

Come & find out. If you've got children or grand children in colleges, talk to them.

If you think we could do better, come & talk to us.