Commemorative Medal Unearthed (02/02/2009)

A retired vicar living in Norwich was digging in his garden and unearthed what turned out to be a King George commemorative medal dated 1894. The medal marked the opening of the King’s Lynn Municipal Technical Institute now known as The College of West Anglia by H.R.H The Duke of York on February 2nd 1894.

Reverend David Hares contacted the college and offered to donate the commemorative medal to the College on the proviso that it be put on display. Principal David Pomfret invited Rev. Hares and his wife to attend the College on Monday 2nd February for an informal presentation and luncheon, marking the anniversary of the College’s foundation.

The presentation will be held in the Principal’s suite and the party will be joined by Dr Paul Richards, ex Mayor and local historian who was involved with the ‘Norfolk College Centenary Lunch’ in 1994. Dr Richards remarked, “The technical schools established in late Victorian England are the origins of many of our FE and HE colleges today, including The College of West Anglia. The medal was made to celebrate the opening of the Lynn Technical Institute in 1894 remind us of those community routes. The medal is a very welcome and unusual discovery – only 1000 where distributed to local children – no others have come to light in recent decades”.