Head of agricultural college says farewell

THE HEAD of a leading agricultural college in Yorkshire will retire this week after nearly a decade at its helm.

Liz Philip, who served as principal and latterly executive principal of Askham Bryan College, on the edge of York, has seen student numbers triple and the original four centres increase to 12, since her appointment in 2007.

Anthony Alton, the chairman of governors, said: “Liz’s contribution to the college and to agriculture regionally and nationally cannot be under estimated. Her career in education spans three-and-a-half decades during which she has influenced and shaped the careers of thousands of young people, most particularly in the farming and rural sector.”

During her nine years, the college has seen multi-million pound infrastructure improvements at the main campus in York, as well as the acquisition in 2011 of Newton Rigg College, near Penrith, where the dairy herd was re-introduced after the foot and mouth outbreak and a state-of-the-art dairy unit built.

Centres have been opened in Newcastle, Wakefield, Scarborough, and at Stewart Park in Middlesbrough, which is undergoing substantial renovations, as well as Bradford and most recently at Temple Newsam in Leeds. Tomorrow is Mrs Philip’s last day in post, after which she plans to focus on a smallholding which she and her husband own near Pocklington.

Mrs Philip, a former deputy principal at Selby College, said: “Retiring is not a decision I have come to lightly, far from it, but I know Askham Bryan will continue to go from strength to strength, encouraging and enabling young people to be the best they can be.”