Walk and Talk Wednesday July 8th Starting at 2pm outside Lytham Library

Presented by Fylde DFAS Tagging the Treasures Project in partnership with

Lancashire County Council Community Heritage

Start at Library

(JA) Good afternoon, todays walk and talk has been brought to you by the Fylde DFAS

Tagging the Treasures Project in partnership with Lancashire County Council Community

Heritage.

My name is Jacqueline Arundel, -TTT Project Manager, Introduce; Andrew Walmsley -

Community Heritage Manager, Sally Bannister - TTT Researcher.

On this walk we will discover more about the history of Lytham and in particular the donors,

artists and locations connected with the Lytham St Anne's Art Collection.

The Collection started 90 years ago, on 29th June 1925, when John Booth (1856-1941) of

the famous grocery business, presented The Herd Lassie by Richard Ansdell R.A to the

townspeople of the borough of Lytham St Annes, to be “a nucleus for the formation of an

art gallery”. Hand out sheet of paintings. See Image 1. This set a much-favoured example,

which was taken up by the eminent citizens of the time, whom we can thank for the large

collection of very high quality art that we have today. With a desire to promote the cultural

importance of the town, the recently formed district council accepted these gifts with great

publicity in the spirit of generosity that was intended. The idea of an art collection, donated

by local individuals for the public benefit was most welcome. The Collection has now grown

to over 240 works, which includes paintings, sculptures, ivories, artefacts, furniture and

other art works.

(AW) (Andrew Images 1 – Maps and Trade Directories) Peter Whittle, who also wrote a

history of Preston, also wrote a book called Marina in the 1820s/30s which covered the

history of Lytham, Southport and Blackpool in which he says of Lytham …

Trade Directories are very useful sources of information for the Local history enthusiast…In

Gilbanke's Directory of Preston and District from 1857 we get this description of Lytham

Stop - Junction Bannister Street and Clifton Street

(AW) Lytham library

…Was built originally as a Mechanics Institute. It included a small library of books and a

reading room. It opened in September 1878 The building was extended in 1898 to celebrate

Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, including a new reading room, gymnasium and

classrooms. The extension was opened by the Duke of Norfolk. In the early 1900s the library

became part of the Municipal Borough of Lytham St Annes and in 1974 the administration of

the library was taken over by Lancashire County Council. (from Librarywebpage)

The idea for a working men's' reading room was mooted by a Henry Beauchamp Hawkins

was vicar of St Cuthbert's in 1870 and opened in the Wesleyan Chapel on Bath Street in

1872. The need for a new building led to building of this one, officially opened in 1879 –

Lady Eleanor Cecily Clifton laid the foundation stone

It also a billiards room and early Librarians' reports mention purchase of chalk and other

paraphernalia for snooker.

"The Lytham Institute in Clifton Street, opened in 1872, is brick building erected by public

subscriptions on a site given by the late J Talbot Clifton sq. And designed as a means of

amusement and social intercourse for all classes; it comprises a library of about 4000

volumes, reading, lecture and billiard rooms and rooms for a house steward." From 1913

Directory

Police Station……

Opened in August 1902. The building was designed by “….Manchester architect Henry

Littler, who also designed the old St Annes College and parts of Rossall School......Building

began in late 1900.....the total cost was over 7,000. The opening ceremony took place in

August 1902, and the first chairman of the bench was Thomas Fair, the Clifton Estate agent”.

From "The Listed Buildings of Lytham St Annes" (2003) by Lytham St Annes Civic Society (p.

34)

Tramways (Andrew Images 2 – Tram photos)

….. were originally the property of Blackpool, St Annes and Lytham Tramways Company. It

was opened in July 1896 and originally propelled by compressed gas! It wasn't very efficient

so didn't last very long. By 1903 it was powered by electricity. We have a photograph c1900

of the (not very orderly!) crowds getting a tram to Blackpool from Clifton Square

The Lytham line, which was standard gauge, was opened on 11 July 1896 from St. Anne's to

Station Road, Blackpool and then on Blackpool owned tracks to Squires Gate (not connected

to Blackpool's system until electric days - 1905). It was extended to Lytham in February

1897, a grand total of over 6 miles. There was a gas tram depot in Market Square, Lytham,

and later another depot at Squires Gate. (End of line at end of Warton Street) From opening

until the end of 1898 the line was leased to the British Gas Traction Co. (a subsidiary of

Lührig, who also demonstrated cars in Croydon under the name of the Traction Syndicate

Ltd.), but BGT was by then in financial trouble and the line was bought by the Blackpool, St

Anne's and Lytham Tramways Co. Ltd. for £115,000 including the cars. Due to Blackpool's

objections, the new company partly operated the line (the Blackpool section) by horse cars

until 1901, and withdrew the gas cars late in 1902, the line being reconstructed as an

electric tramway from December of that year reopening on 28th May 1903. The gas trams

were then sold on to Neath (Wales) and Trafford Park (Manchester), both formerly operated

by the British Gas Traction Co.

http://www.tramwayinfo.com/Defcardind.htm

Set off walking up to the square….

Stop - opposite Talbot

(AW) Clifton Street

In 1913 a John Cartmell was the landlord of the Talbot. There are over 8 Cartmell's in the

1911 Census – most of them born in Lytham.

Other Businesses on Clifton Street in 1913 were…William Bonney - Shrimp dealer; Thomas

Bonney – fruiterer, Thomas Butcher – Coal Merchant, William Garlick - Butcher; John

Crowther, confectioner; Jane Harrison – fruiterer and florist; William Peachey – Grocer.

Sounds like a very similar scene to what is there today.

Site of the Cinema (Where Boots and Tesco Express now are) The Lytham Palace opened in

1930 it had an Egyptian inspired interior design and features in a recent book, 'Egypt in

England' a craze for all things Egyptian followed the discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb in

1922 –by archaeologist Howard Carter.

(JA) The Collection has a painting by his father, the artist and illustrator, Samuel John Carter

- Fallow Deer with Fawn, 1885 - Donated by Ald. J H Dawson, 22.05.1939. Carter exhibited at

the Royal Academy and often received positive comment from John Ruskin, famous

Victorian Art Critic.

See Image 2.

Stop - outside Stringers

(AW) 1913 Directory finds John William Stringer, draper and silk mercer on Clifton Square.

The 1911 Census tells us that John Stringer came from Ossett in Yorkshire and lived at 2

West Beach with his wife Kate.

By the 1850’s, the North West of England had become one of the wealthiest regions in the

country. However, the industrial revolution that transformed many northern towns into

manufacturing districts, apart from a brief flirtation with the cottage industry of handloom

weaving and shipbuilding, had largely by passed the Fylde Coast.

The heads of industry became enormously wealthy and many of this emerging class of

industrial entrepreneurs, magnates of manufacture and commerce, came to reside in

Lytham.

We do perhaps need to make the distinction between Lytham and St Annes which were not

joined until 1922 when a new borough was formed. St Anne's on the Sea was developed

from 1885. The St Annes on the Sea Land Building Company – board of directors comprised

exclusively of businessmen form the Rossendale area. The company took up leases offered

by the Cliftons through their agent Thomas Fair and invested in the new town. The

endeavour and money of William Porritt was particularly important in the town's

development and success. It's attractive location and sea air were often promoted for

health reasons.

(JA) We have a portrait of W J Porritt, Chairman of St Annes Urban District Council, by Miss

C A Millington, in our Collection Donated in 1938 by R P Cottrill, 7 Church Road, Lytham.

See Image 3.

In the window of Stringers, we can see a portrait of Richard Ansdell, our famous Victorian

animal painter. It has been created by artist Russell Payne and If you look closer you can see

that each pixel is one of Ansdell’s paintings. Ansdell that lays between Lytham and St Annes

is named after him, more on Ansdell later.

Stop - Market Square (Andrew Images 3 – Maps and postcard)

(JA) The Collection has many connections with members of the Lytham St Annes Art

Society, which had an illustrious start in 1912. It was founded by historian, Thomas Alfred

Clarke, James Terry, and professional artist Walter Eastwood, (1866-1943), who had his

studio, 17, The Square, (Andrew Images 4 – Census Record) Lytham where Poppy’s clothing

store is now. The original studio door is stored in the attic of the Heritage Centre across the

road. (Copies of maps and census records for Walter Eastwood and house location)

The early society held its first exhibition in the Market Hall in March 1913. Copies from

Lytham Times Which was a popular subject for Eastwood, we have one in our Collection,

Lytham Market Hall, which was donated by the Rotary Club of Lytham St Annes in 1944, in

memory of the artist who was a member of the Club, 1928-1943. (See image 3)

The Market Hall was built in 1848 by the Lytham Improvement Commissioners at a cost of

over £1,000 to replace an open-air market and fish stones. It was designed by architect

Charles Reed, Liverpool and built by Thomas Drummond, Fleetwood. In 1883, Lady Eleanor

Cecily Clifton placed a drinking fountain in the Square in memory of John Talbot Clifton

who died in 1872. It was converted into shops in the 1890’s and the fountain was placed in

Sparrow Park by Lytham station, when the Cenotaph was erected. Unveiling Ceremony of

the memorial was on 14th January 1922 by Mrs Wakefield who lost 3 sons in WW1

We can also find Harry Dent Crompton 2nd Lieutenant born 1895. He enlisted in the army

when war broke out, first as an air mechanic, then after training he was awarded his “wings”

in September 1915 and became a pilot in the 4th squadron of the Royal Flying Corps. During

the Battle of the Somme Harry flew his Be2 aircraft over enemy lines making regular

reconnaissance and artillery-spotting missions. He held the rank of Second Lieutenant when

he was killed at Courelette on December 4th, 1916. We know about Harry as his mother

Mrs Sarah Ellen Crompton (nee Dent) donated several paintings and engravings to the

Collection, 24.04.44, including; The Village Wedding by Thomas Falcon Marshall, and Shore

Scene with Boats - Clovelly Harbour by Samual Towers, see images 5 & 6.

Interestingly, his Bolton born, father John Crompton 0.B.E., was a silk weaver and innovator

of pattern weaving looms. He was a Fellow and President of the Textile institute and

descendant of Samuel Crompton, inventor of the Spinning Jenny. The family came to

Ansdell, Lytham St Annes, when John retired c.1913.

It could be said that the Art Society members invented the Cafe society, so popular in

Lytham today, as their meetings moved around between St Annes, Ansdell and Lytham

utilising cafes. In the 1960s, two doors up from Eastwoods studio, an unusual studio was

leased from Booths in Market Square. Access to the studio was through a door in Chapel

Street and across the roof of the Booths shop, it was considered very bohemian. It was

opened in 14th January 1967 by Arthur Leslie, an amateur painter, better known as Jack

Walker, landlord of the Rovers Return in Coronation Street.

In the early years several eminent artist patrons emerged: Sir William Russell Flint, Sir

Alfred East, Sir Frank Brangwyn, Julius Olssen and Derwent Wood, together with Walter

Marsden, who designed the impressive war memorial in Ashton Gardens, St Annes, and

Edward W Mellor, (1853-1930), of Fairlawn, Lytham, photography pioneer, treasurer and

member of the Royal Photographic Society. Other patrons included J. Talbot Clifton,

Wykeham Clifton, J. H. Taylor and good friend of Eastwood, Sir Cuthbert Cartwright

Grundy of Grundy Gallery in Blackpool. Grundy gave one of his pictures to the Collection in

1945, aged 99, Coming Rain. At that time, Grundy stated that he felt it was an example of

his best work. See Image 7.

Stop - Market Square, Estate Offices

(AW) The Estate Offices for the Clifton estate

Census Record – Lytham Hall (Andrew Images 5 – Census Record)

The Fair family had overseen the affairs of the Clifton estate since the arrival of Thomas Fair

in 1835 - Thomas was originally from Scotland. His son, Thomas, took over in 1862 after his

father's partial retirement and James S Fair his son took over from Thomas. The Fairs, as

agents for the Cliftons, were influential people, but they weren't just agents acting on the

will of the Cliftons. There were in a sense an extension of the family – offering suggestions

advice and had a great deal of influence. Fair’s grandson James Alexander Stretton Fair

(1863-1941), donated three Ansdell paintings to the Collection in 1937; A Scottish Landscape

with Stalkers, The Red Cow and Dead Game, Pannier & Plaid. See Image 8.

Before the arrival of the railway in the 1860s the gates to Lytham hall were in Market

Square but in 1862 they were dismantled and moved to their current location.

Stop - Tomlinson's Chemist

Leave the square, head towards the front

Stop - Queen Street/ Henry Street

(AW) In 1912 the tram Shed was on the corner of Henry Street – earlier it had been a (roller)

skating rink and appears on an 1890s map). It was only used for Trams during the short

period of time they were operated by gas. There would have been a cinema on this site

Henry Street in 1914 – the Lytham Picture House (Andrew Images 6 – tram photo) –

interestingly, we have a picture of a tram on North Promenade in Lytham which is

advertising a showing of The Cloister and the Hearth at the Palace – The Charles Reade

novel was made into a film in 1913. Corner site became a drill hall for the Lytham

Territorials which was completed in 1915. It was eventually demolished in 1985 when the

Homestead was built. You can see the drill hall on the 1930s OS map.

Stop - East Beach/West Beach by Clifton Arms

(AW) Both Lytham and St Annes were well off for places of educational establishments. The

sea air and refined society making it the ideal spot for the education of young gentlemen

and women, several of which would be around the east Beach and West Beach area.

Gilbankes' Directory has a full page advert for Mr Wilson's Academy (Andrew Images 7-

Trade directory)

(JA) The Artist Colony and Richard Ansdell, R.A.

During the Victorian era there was a little known about art colony in Lytham. By the late

nineteenth century, Lytham was attracting famous artists, such as Liverpool-born artist

Richard Ansdell, R.A. (1815-1885). In 1861, Ansdell became an Associate of the Royal

Academy (Full member in 1870). Celebrating, he built ‘Lytham House’ in Kensington and

Starr Hills in Lytham, taking its name from the surrounding sand dunes and the Starr grass

that grows there. This modest villa, which has been a nursing home since 1957, lay between

the large new villas at West Beach, and Commonside Road, the area that eventually took his

name.

Ansdell is important to this area, indeed, we have one of the largest collections of his

paintings, but he was only a part of a little known world of art, which flowered briefly in the

expensive villas along the beach of Victorian Lytham. It involved several of the best-known

British artists of the day. Consisting of artists and wealthy art collectors, it was based at each

end of a row of marine Villas. The Clifton Estate, which owned and managed most of the

land in the area, had gradually flattened the sandhills and in 1891, the promenade footpath

was extended along this stretch, called West Beach.

It all started with art collector, Thomas Miller (1811-1865), three times Mayor of Preston,

and major shareholder of the great Preston cotton firm of Horrocks, Whitehead & Miller.

According to local historian Brian Turner, Miller was the inspiration for Dickens’s Thomas

Gradgrind in Hard Times. For many years, he owned a summer villa at No. 3 West Beach.

Miller acquired his love of art at a young age, encouraged by his neighbour in Preston, the

lawyer and art collector, Richard Newsham. It was with Newsham’s remarkable Victorian

art collection, bequest to the townsfolk of Preston, that the Harris Museum was founded in

1883.

Miller’s other partner in art was James Eden (d.1874) a former senior partner in the Bolton,

cloth-bleaching company, ‘Eden and Thwaites’.

Eden knew Miller through shared interests in art and cotton and their friendship may well

have encouraged Eden to move to Lytham from Blackburn in 1847 where he leased a plot

and built the villa, Fairlawn, half a mile from Miller’s house.

Miller, Eden and Newsham, wary of the established art business played safe by buying new

pictures at exhibitions, including the Royal Academy’s Summer Exhibition, London, and

commissioning paintings direct from the artists.

Miller in particular corresponded regularly with the top British artists of the day – William

Holman Hunt (1827-1910), Daniel Maclise (1806-1870), Thomas Creswick R.A. (1811-1869),

William Mulready (1786-1863), David Roberts R.A. (1796-1864) John Everett Millais R.A.

(1829-1896) and entertained them at his Lytham villa.

Amongst Miller’s regular guests was William Powell Frith (1819-1909), famous crowd scene

artist, who visited in the shooting season. We have a painting by Frith and Ansdell in the

Collection, A Boy and Girl with Hounds, 1860, which was donated in 1957 by Martha and

Ethel née Cowgill in memory of their late father, John Ellis Cowgill. See Image 9.

Eden’s favourite artist was Thomas Webster R.A. (1800-1886) who painted romanticised

versions of scenes from everyday life, often including children. A regular visitor, who,

impressed with the efficiency of Lytham’s climate to clear his gout, leased a plot and started

to build The Elms, next door to Fairlawn in 1854.

As Eden and Miller developed their interest in art, they placed increased reliance on an up-

and-coming Manchester art dealer, William Agnew. The firm of Agnews, was founded in

1817 with financial backing from Agnew’s grandfather William Locket, a prosperous Salford

engraver, who retired to No. 27 East Beach, Lytham. Agnew must have known Miller and

Eden from visits to his grandfather’s and by 1851, he started to provide paintings for their

collections. Though Agnew never lived in Lytham, his sons were educated at Seafield House

School (just across the field from Fairlawn) on Seafield Road. Seafield boys rose to positions

of eminence in all parts of the world. This Grade II listed building is now luxury appartments.

Pass round image card

We believe that it was Agnew’s familiarity with all the artists and collectors that must have

been one of the main influences in the formation of Lytham’s art colony.

The Agnews had a long-standing business relationship with Ansdell, which became even

closer when Ansdell’s eldest son married William Agnew’s daughter (their descendants still

bear the middle name of Agnew).

Although not essentially a landscape artist, Ansdell also painted several pictures of Lytham.

For instance, in the Collection we have Lytham Sandhills, donated by Ansdells grandchildren

in 1926, See Image 10 and Rabbiting on Lytham Sandhills donated in 1935, by Henry Talbot

de Vere Clifton, (1907-1979). See Image 11. Harry as he was called, became squire of the

Clifton estate in 1928 and contrived to dissipate the entire estate before dying penniless in

1979.

Visiting Artists

Apart from Millers artist guests, Lytham was very popular with other artists who came

specifically to paint in Lytham along the coast. In the Collection we have a watercolour

sketch by John Linnell (1792-1882), The Beach at Lytham, which Harry Clifton donated in

1960.

According to art critic, Christopher Wood, at the time of Linnell’s death, he was widely

regarded as the greatest English landscape painter since J W Turner. Indeed, since the

1970’s, his work has been reassessed and his early landscapes are now considered inspired

and sometimes visionary. This makes sense when you discover that one of his impressive

circle of friends was the visionary poet and artist William Blake (1757-1827). Linnell’s Last

Gleam before the Storm, generally cited as Linnell’s best and most famous work once hung

on the walls at Fairlawn, home of art collector James Eden.

To our right along West Beach lived two of our donors.

In 1942, Mr & Mrs J B Leaver of Beach House, West Beach which is just along here,

(indicate: Clifton arms towards st annes, 3 min walk) donated Dog and Mallard by Ansdell.

See Image 12. And in 1948, Mrs Haigh, of Ribble Lodge, No. 8, West Beach, just here

(indicate: Clifton arms towards st annes, 1 min walk)

donated River Landscape (canal) nr Windsor and Sheep at a Roadside by Henry Charles Fox.

See Image 13.

Stop - Assembly rooms

(AW) At various times also housed …. a News Room, Yacht Club, Lytham Urban District

Council. The upper part of the Assembly Rooms became a cinema in 1907. This moved to old

skating Rink on Henry Street in 1910. Cinema in Assembly rooms became the Royal Picture

Palace. The last picture was shown on 19 May 1917 and the equipment moved to the pier.

The council bought the building from the Clifton estate in December 1914. There were plans

for the east wing to be demolished and new council offices to be built, baths to be closed

and new open air baths to be built near beach Street but the war meant that any new plans

had to be postponed. (Victorian Lytham – Brian Turner)

The Assembly Rooms site has been a public building since 1795 and in 1863 the Clifton

Estate were operating the building as steam operated, individual and public baths using

water from the sea. There were assembly rooms, news and reading rooms and a room for

concerts and balls, including a theatre. By 1928 Lytham St Annes Corporation rebuilt it

adding a palatial new frontage, retained when the baths were demolished in 1987. The

majority of the building was converted into apartments and reopened in 1991 and the rest

developed for community use and administered by Lytham Town Trust Limited and

Registered Charity.

(JA) In 1988, the Collection acquired a picture by Glasgow born, Leslie Cant (1920-2007),

The Assembly Rooms, Lytham. See Image 14 As our painting was completed in 1986, before

the new apartments opened, it is possible the painting was done using architectural plans.

(AW) Lytham Pier (Andrew Images 8 – Pier photos)

The Pier was opened on 17 April 1865 by Mrs Cecily Clifton – It's fortunes declined after

1879 and in 1883 annual meeting had to be abandoned for lack of a quorum.

It was completely revamped a decade or so before WW1 in 1891 and the pier company

installed the first electric lighting in Lytham. However financial problems continued. Part of

pier wrecked was by dredging barges and their anchors during a gale in 1903.

There was Roller skating at the pier from 1909 (there was a – big craze for this) and as we

have seen there was also a skating rink on Henry Street. New Floral hall opened in 1911.

War was the final straw - although the pier did benefit with the arrival of troops who were

billeted for training. Cinema opened in 1917 – bought equipment that had been used in

cinema at the assembly rooms. The pier suffered several fires over the years and it was

finally demolished in 1960 after one such fire in 1959.

Stop - Junction of Park View Road and East Beach

(JA) The Windmill

The Windmill, now a museum, has been the subject of many paintings and we have several

in the Collection. Art Society member Harold Partington (d.1927) painted it before the fire

in December 1918 when it still had long sweeps. This painting was donated by Art Society

founder member, Thomas Alfred Clarke, who was also a keen local historian who published,

Lytham: A short history in 1951. See Image 15. You can see the tower of St Peters Church in

the distance. We also have one by Walter Eastwood, simply called Lytham Mill.

The Mexico - Disaster of 1886

In the Collection we have a Chromolithograph, that relates to a horrific disaster that

happened just off our coast here, near Birkdale, Southport, over 120 years ago. See Image

16. On the 9th December 1886, the barque The Mexico, of Hamburg, with a crew of twelve,

was travelling from Liverpool to South America when it was caught in a fierce storm.

Lifeboats from Southport (the Eliza Fernley), Lytham (the Charles Biggs) and St Annes (the

Laura Janet), responded to the distress signals. Twenty-seven men of the lifeboat service

lost their lives, leaving sixteen widows and fifty orphans in three towns. This RNLI rescue

remains the worst loss of crew, in a single incident, and was viewed as a national disaster

across Victorian England.

(AW) In 1891, Manchester industrialist Sir Charles W. Macara, who had a house in Lytham,

organised the world's first charity street collection for the widows and orphans . His

obituary took up nearly a whole column in The Times of January 3rd 1929. "Sir Charles

Macara, whose death in his 84th year is announced on another page was for a long period a

prominent figure in the cotton industry, to which in his time he rendered service of lasting

importance…..he went to live at St Annes on Sea in 1884 and a lifeboat disaster there in

1886 led to him becoming the founder of the Lifeboat Saturday movement which he

directed until till the removal of its headquarters to Manchester in 1896." – Picture of

Macara??

(JA) In 23rd May 1888 a lifelike sculpture of the coxswain of the Laura Janet, William

Johnson, was unveiled, commemorating the bravery of these crews. The Lifeboat

Monument, by Edinburgh Sculptor Barnie Rhind, stands proudly on St Annes promenade, as

a reminder of their valour.

Photos of the Lifeboats

The Collection once held a portrait painting of the surviving Lytham coxswain, Thomas

Clarkson, The Coxswain of the Lytham Lifeboat by Walter Eastwood.

This subject has been popular with other artists too, such as

German born Friedrich Heinrich Max Krause (1861-1931), whose family has settled in

Southport, painted a large canvas depicting the Southport lifeboat called out to rescue of

The Mexico, The Wreck of the Eliza Fernley. It was first exhibited at The Southport Spring

Exhibition, 1887 and bought for the Atkinson Art Gallery in 1888.

Resident Artist – Old Customs House, East Beach

Artist, Hugh Berry Scott (1854- 1940) The Herdsman and Dredging on the Ribble, was

donated in 1942 by Ald. J H Dawson. See image 17. Scott painted this view from his top floor

studio at his residence, Customs House, East Beach, Lytham. Which used to stand on the

current site of the Danbro Headquarters, where the Land Registry used to be. Scott moved

here in 1910 where he stayed for nearly thirty years and was a friend of Ansdell.

Two more of our donors lived in East Beach, Lytham; Edward Geoffrey Sergeant(1850-

1922), lived at No. 33 and in 1946 donated The Drummer Boy by Mark William Langlois; and

in 1952, James Leslie Scholfield who lived at no. 50, donated A Startled Ewe, painted in

1865 at the height of Ansdell’s career.

Stop - outside The Fylde Gallery, Booths and art society building

You can see several of the pictures we have discussed today at our current exhibition on at

the Fylde Gallery called ‘Art of Giving, 90th Anniversary of the Lytham St Annes Art

Collection’ which runs until 30th July. (hand out flyers)

Ii is an opportunity to see some of the artworks that are usually hung or stored away in St

Annes Town Hall. The Art of Giving focuses on what is the very essence of the Collection, the

fact that over decades many individuals gave paintings, sculptures and other artworks to a

growing collection in the hope that one day they would hang in an art gallery in Lytham St

Annes for all to enjoy.

When Booths opened their new store in Haven Road, in 2008, they had included an art

gallery within the building, fulfilling their ancestors’ wish. The Fylde Gallery enabled the

Collection, finally, to be put on display in a series of themed exhibitions. The Herd Lassie has

been conserved, careful cleaned, and due to her links with the family is triumphantly

displayed on long-term loan at this splendid gallery. However, she is the only permanent

item at that gallery.

The philanthropy of the Booths family has stretched over the lifetime of the Collection,

initiating it and ultimately providing the community with a beautiful Gallery in which this

Exhibition is displayed.

Lytham St Annes Art Society – New Home

In the 1980’s, the society bought the former senior citizens hall in Haven Road, just here. It

was to be a happy home remembered by many with affection. However, development of

the area meant they needed to move; hard bargaining with Booths concluded in August

2007 and the society moved across the road into its architect-designed new home. Where

we are going now for a well earned cuppa! They are having an open day today and the

societies archive will be available for you to look at.