RAF Shinfield Park

RAF Shinfield Park was a Royal Air Force administrative site in the south of Reading, Berkshire. In recent years, it became the main Met Office residential training college, now defunct. The Met Office itself is a division of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom).

History
The site is adjacent to the west side of the A327 road in the south of the Reading area, near the current roundabout with the B3270. Adjacent to the south is the former Shire Hall of Berkshire County Council, and the M4. Adjacent to the north is the independent Crosfields School, built on a former part of the RAF site. To the west is Whitley Wood. Although it was built as a part of Berkshire, the current site is in the civil parish of Shinfield, in the Borough of Wokingham.

The RAF station was built on the Shinfield Lodge Estate. The site had been owned by Ebenezer Maitland in the 1700s.

RAF Flying Training Command
For many years it was the headquarters of RAF Flying Training Command (HQFTC) from 27 May 1940 until 1 June 1968. From 1940 until 1945, it was also the headquarters of RAF Technical Training Command. RAF Training Command had been formed in 1936 at Buntingsdale Hall at Sutton upon Tern near Market Drayton

RAF Training Command
From 1 June 1968 to 13 June 1977 it was the headquarters of RAF Training Command. In June 1977 RAF Training Command became part of RAF Support Command, situated at RAF Brampton in Cambridgeshire.

Meteorological Office College
It became the Meteorological Office College in October 1971, who had moved from Stanmore in north-west London. The Met Office College, when under Peter Ewins, left in 2002, briefly staying at South Devon College, before moving to Exeter in 2004. The Met Office College trained not just British meteorologists, but TV weather presenters across Europe. TV weather presenters would receive an intensive 18-week course in meteorology.

ECMWF
The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts was established next to the Met Office College in 1978. It is known for its Integrated Forecast System. It has around 100 staff. The site had been agreed to be built following a meeting of 18 countries in Brussels in March 1973. It looked at forecasts from four to ten days hence.

Recent development
Most of the site has been turned into housing. Shinfield Lodge has Grade II listing.