Fylde had a reputation as the socialist college. Its original second and third year students were inspired by the events of May 1968 to seize the opportunity to make a socialist commune. In 1969 The Queen came to open The County College. As she passed through Alexandra Square, the first Chairman of the College Assembly, Bill Corr, invested a Malayan toad "Archduke of Lancaster". Over-eager press coverage saw this as a scandal. Further, its College building was never formally ‘opened’ in 1971, as planned, as the Minister for Higher Education was advised not to attend the opening as Fylde students had threatened to demonstrate about the level of grants on that day.