"I visited the guys there 2 weeks ago, and all the instructors I spoke to were all online controllers seconded to the college for 2 years. Only 1 of these was anywhere near retirement."
That was probably because the majority of the instructors were out the back having their afternoon nap due to old age!
I visited the College early this year and at that stage they only had a couple of seconded controllers there. One left after only 6 months (due to frustration). Another who was there said that in his first 6 months he tried to introduce new things to bring the College up to date but got beaten down by the older guys. He now just goes with the flow until his time is up.
But as you have been there more recently, hopefully I am wrong and things have changed. Those poor ab-initio's need to be taught current ways, not some rule that was used 20 years ago when the instructor last controlled a real aircraft.