Celebrating the American connection

With only days to go until Barack Obama's inauguration, Wymondham College is preparing to celebrate links with a former American president - Abraham Lincoln.

With only days to go until Barack Obama's inauguration, Wymondham College is preparing to celebrate links with a former American president - Abraham Lincoln.

On Thursday, the governors and principal will host a black tie event to mark the college's inaugural Lincoln Lecture, to be given by Prof Richard Carwardine, Rhodes Professor of American history at the University of Oxford.

Invited guests will be made up of representatives from local professions, industry, education, government and many friends and past students of the college. They will include the new leader of South Norfolk District Council, Sandra Dinneen, herself a former pupil.

It is hoped that there will also be representatives from the USAF at Mildenhall in recognition of the relationship between the college and the people of the United States which derived from the school's previous existence as a United States Army Hospital during the second world war.

The Lincoln Lecture has been inaugurated to mark the co-incidence of the bicentenary of the birth of Abraham Lincoln, the golden jubilee of the college's Lincoln Hall, and the opening of the Ralphs Building during the current academic year.

It is intended the event should provide an annual opportunity for students and guests to hear a lecture on a theme related to the life and work of Abraham Lincoln - who traced his ancestry back to south Norfolk - by a figure of national or international renown.