The Sir Bernard Miller Centre

Spedan was a very keen naturalist and at various stages in his life kept lynxes, gibbons, birds and owls.

The Centre is built on the site of his aviaries which were installed for his collection of various birds, with a walled garden at the back for owls. This became known as the Owl Garden. After receiving complaints about the noise from the macaws and peacocks in particular, he reluctantly agreed that they would have to go and eventually his entire collection was moved to Leckford.

In the 1970s, it was decided to move the Partnerships Central Training Department from London to Odney. There were considerable advantages, both for trainees and trainers in having it purpose built on Partnership property and with residential accommodation. It was built on the walled garden site which had originally housed the owls.

The Sir Bernard Miller Centre replaced these buildings in 2006 and was built on the site of the old Management Training Centre, green houses, admin buildings and the old stable yard. The stables were housed in the building now used by the police. The Centre was opened by two sons of Sir Bernard who had worked in the Partnership.