St. Georges Institute
The "St.Anne's Club" was
founded in the 1870s and was originally located in Wood Street. In
the 1880s it was dismantled, rebuilt between the
two entrance lodges on St.George's Road and renamed the
"St.George's Institute".
In 1916 the Ashton Theatre was to built on this site so the club was
again moved, to within the gardens and renamed the "Ashton
Institute".
|
FIRST PUBLIC HALL
"What might be described as St. Annes first public hall was the
Institute, which up to 1915 was at the St. George's Road entrance of
Ashton Gardens. It was removed bodily into the gardens and given a
new architectural aspect by the Council's surveyor, the late Mr. J.
Stanley Sawdon, who, by the way, also designed the Ashton Pavilion.
In the 1880s the Institute served a dual purpose, a
concert and meeting hall during the week and Congregational Church
services on Sundays. The early residents spent many pleasant hours
at tea parties, concerts, lectures and prize distributions.
The first Congregational ministers— Rev. A. Somerville and Rev.
Corney Lee —held services there until Mr. Porritt built St. George's
Hall. Then it became a club—the St. Annes Institute—in which the
celebrities of those days spent their leisure time with billiards,
dominoes, chess and whist. The picture, kindly supplied by Mr. David
W. Greaves, will revive happy memories."
Lytham St.Annes Express, 1937 |
