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I took this at what used to be the FE (Further Education) College. You know, that place that taught technical and craft skills, and that offered belated academic qualifications to people who, for one reason or another, hadn't got them in school. It's where I learnt html and used to wander round with the biscuit-tin pin-hole camera I'd made as part of my graphic design training. Later I did my English literature A level there, having missed out on that at school.

Back in the 80s, when entrepreneurs discovered an opportunity to get government grants for 'delivering' training to students, the FE colleges started to be privatised. Oxford FE College wasn't. It was run by someone whose school experience was not good but whose education was later retrieved because good, free, local teaching was available. For many years she held back the market forces and promoted a learner-centred ethos but 18 months ago, just after I'd completed my English language teacher training there, the pressures to conform and to sell education as a commodity became too much and the college was taken over by 'Activate Learning'. Lots of expensive building has since been going on. I'm sure loads of students are succeeding at getting the right sorts of certificates but when I came to mark this on the map I somehow wasn't surprised that the site is now labelled 'Oxford Lifestyle Centre'.