Convent School Ansdell

Evening Gazette, August 1934
CONVENT SCHOOL AT ANSDELL
Where Town-Bred Children are to Benefit from the Sea Breezes

In a room where the sun shone with great power, and from where I enjoyed a. glorious view far out over the sea, with Southport in the near distance and the Welsh hills far away, I chatted yesterday with Sister Mary George on the future of the old Pembroke House School, which stands on West Beach at Ansdell.

This extensive  building, originally designed as a pair of semi-detached residences, but later leased by the late Ald. E: R. Lightwood, ,LP., B.A., and taken over by him ,in 1878 for the purposes of a boys' boarding school, has been empty for, a long time. It is a big place. There are 24 bedrooms. That supplies ample evidence without any further substantiation of the largeness of the place. Big houses are at a discount to-day.

Nearly two years ago  the Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary, Holly Mount, Tottington, near Bury, made inquiries about Pembroke House. Now they have bought the premises, and Pembroke House becomes known as the Convent, Clifton Drive, Ansdell.

NEVER SEEN THE SEA.

“You see we wanted some place where we could bring the children so that they might have the benefit of the sun and sea. At Tottington we stand up 1,000 feet above sea level and have plenty of sun, but would you believe it, we have had children here during the vacation who have never before seen the sea."

The kindly Sister's eyes turned towards the sunlit estuary of the Ribble with the big waves rolling almost to the garden wall of Pembroke House. Steamers were ploughing their way up to Preston...

“Isn’t it lovely?" she exclaimed.

In the days of Pembroke House as a high-Class boarding school many hundreds of young men passed through it to enter the world's activities.

Now it is to be a holiday school.

TO BEGIN NEXT EASTER.

Next Easter it is expected, the serious work will begin. The place has to be renovated and modernised. Electric light, so useful in the smoother running of any home, is to be installed at once.

The grounds, about four acres, had become overrun. Gardeners have made a wonderful transformation and checked the obliteration of the footpaths and the drive by the spread of weeds. At the front of the house there are spacious sunken lawns flanked by terraces.

Doorways from the gardens give access to that wild section of the Lytham bench between Fairlawn Road and Ansdell Road South, which is a. precious possession of the west end of Lytham. Beyond there is the promenade and below the hounding sea, or, on its ebb, fine golden sands.

The Sisters of Charity have chosen well.

A big work has to be done before the re-fitting will he complete. Sister Mary George is superintending the rehabilitation' of the house.

She has come from the Tottington Elementary School, which is in association with the P.A. Institution, and which has 300 children.

A HOLIDAY HOME.

What is the purpose of the Pembroke House? Sister Mary told me that it was to 'provide the Holly Mount children with a summer holiday home.

During this winter an organised scheme will be worked out to he put into operation as from Easter next. Batches of children will be sent down for periods of three weeks, and whilst here they will be subjected to tuition exactly as if in one of the ordinary elementary schools.

The great thing will be that they will have an environment entirely different from that which obtains in an inland place. The western breezes will waft through the open windows direct from the sea. The lawns and the beach will be available for all minutes that can be devoted to play.

One could readily understand life at the Convent, as it is to be making for the true happiness and health of the children fortunate enough to 'spend the three weeks there.

And so the old order changeth. The uses of Pembroke House are to he directed on a different course, and yet it is somewhat similar to the old one. The building is so spacious that some of the rooms are to he let off to residential guests.

LYTHAM ST. ANNES POPULAR.

The change emphasises the very great popularity of Lytham St. Annes with those who are concerned in the founding of convalescent and holiday homes for young people and adults.

Let me enumerate. So far as I can recall at the moment these various homes are :-

 The Rochdale Children's Convalescent Home, St. Andrew's Road South, St. Annes;

The Abraham Ormerod Children's Convalescent Home, North Promenade;

The Manchester Children's Hospital Convalescent Home, North Drive;

The Manchester Sunday School Union Children's Holiday Home, South Drive, St. Annes.

The Thursby Convalescent Home for Burnley children, North Drive, St. Annes.

The Blackburn Convalescent Home, North Drive, St. Annes.

The Bradford Rechabites Convalescent Home, South Drive, St. Annes.

The West Yorkshire Miners Convalescent Home, Church Road, Lytham.

The Preston Convalescent Home for Poor Children, Park Street, Lytham; and

The John Reynolds Convalescent Home for Poor Children, East Beach, Lytham.