Lytham St.Annes Coat of Arms

 
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Lytham St.Annes, Lancashire, England
 

 

  St.George's 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 be built on this site so the club was again moved, to within the gardens and renamed the "Ashton Institute".

St.George's Institute

St.George's  Gardens  viewed from St.George's Road c1890. Between the two entrance lodges on St.George's Road is St.George's 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