[3] Lady Ebbisham[4] performed the opening ceremony on 21 September 1946, with E J Dent, Gordon Jacob and pianist Mabel Lander (a pupil of Leschetizky and piano tutor to the young Princess Elizabeth) among the guests.
Formed in the wake of the United Kingdom's Education Act 1944, which aimed to expand secondary educational opportunities for children of all backgrounds by establishing new categories of grammar, secondary modern and technical schools, the College served as a training institution for music teachers needed for the new institutions.
[5] It was also a useful employment opportunity and staging post for some of the wave of émigré composers and musicians who had sought refuge in the UK during this period.
In 1950 it appealed for support through subscription from "all those interested in music education" to add more space, buy equipment and stock the library.
And in 1959 Fitznells Manor was bought by Vivienne Price (founder of the National Children's Orchestra in 1978), and her husband Tony Carter.