1985 to 1988 : Leigh College (now Wigan and Leigh College)
Marshall Street, Leigh, Lancashire, UK. WN7 4HX

2 ‘A’ Levels – Computer Science and Biology

(building below demolished 2007 and now rebuilt at the Leigh Sports Village – 1, 2, 3, 4 article by Julie McKiernan courtesy of PastForward, produced by Wigan Archives & Museums, Issue No. 97, August – November 2024, Marking 50 years of the borough, Wigan and Leigh’s local history magazine – Address: Past Forward, Archives, Wigan & Leigh, Leigh Town Hall, Mark Street, Leigh, WN7 1DY) 

My ‘A’ Level Computing Project was developed on a Amstrad PC 1512 and was written in Turbo Pascal. The software provided a means for a local town newspaper to store, track and calculate the money payable to delivery staff based on paper round metrics. These metrics related to size of round, papers delivered and any leaflets attached to a delivery for that week. 

My ‘O’ Level Computing Project was developed on a LINK 480Z Research Machine and was written in Extended BASIC. Three submissions were required with appropriate design and testing. The excerpts here show details of a BASIC program for storing and displaying student exam results.

Leigh College, Marshall Street, Leigh. WN7 4HX – Timeline History from 1966

The Leigh College old building on Marshall Street was an iconic piece of the town’s educational landscape that stood for 41 years before being replaced by modern facilities.

Chronological Timeline

• 1966: The Marshall Street campus building is officially constructed and opened, initially serving the local education system as the area transitioned away from traditional grammar schools.
• 1976: Leigh College officially begins its primary era at the Marshall Street building following major local secondary and further education restructuring.
• 1985–1988: The building serves a generation of A-Level and vocational students with highly regarded local facilities, though the physical structure begins to show its age.
• 1992: Leigh College amalgamates with the Wigan College of Technology to form Wigan and Leigh College. The Marshall Street building remains open as a primary Leigh-based campus alongside the Railway Road site.
• 2002: The Learning and Skills Council (LSC) approves a series of radical redevelopment plans due to the increasingly poor, outdated condition of the Marshall Street accommodation.
• 2003–2004: Major plans for the £75 million Leigh Sports Village are finalized and approved. The project officially designates a new, modern location for the Leigh campus, sealing the fate of the Marshall Street building.
• 2007: The gates close for the final time on August 1, 2007. The 600 remaining sixth-form and adult students are relocated to the brand-new, three-story facility at the Leigh Sports Village. Later that year, the 41-year-old old building is completely demolished.

• 2026: A 50th-anniversary reunion and a dedicated local history project are organized by local historians to commemorate the 1976 launch of the Marshall Street college era.