Drill halls Options

[Gibbo]

Sorry, I tried to post a picture of the Edinburgh Uni Drill Hall but it was too big. I'll retake it at the weekend using a different format.

[mruk]

I don't know if this will help. It's not a photo, but a declaration-dedication of the opening of the new Drill Hall in Morley, near Leeds. [1912] [I'm typing, because I'm useless at scanning and posting]

TOWN CLERK'S OFFICE
MORLEY
3rd May, 1912


Morley Detachment of the 4th King's Own Yorks. Light Infantry.

OPENING OF NEW DRILL HALL

Dear Sir,
I am desired by the Mayor to inform you of the arrangements for the Opening of the New Drill Hall, which has recently been erected in Ackroyd Street, Morley.

The Hall is to be Opened on Saturday, May 11th, at 3 o'clock, by GENERAL BALDOCK and other distinguished Officers are expected to be present.

The Officers and Men of the Local Territorial Corps will meet at the Town Hall, at 2-30, leaving in Procession at 3 o'clock, in the following order:-

The Battalion Band.
The Morley Detachment.
Representatives of Public Bodies.
Magistrates.
Members of the Town Council.
General Baldock and Official Guests.
Visiting Mayors.
The Mayor of Morley.

The route will be kept by the Boy Scouts.

On arrival at the Hall Major Maggs will ask General Baldock to open the building.

The Architect will present to General Baldock a Silver Key.

General Baldock will declare the Building open, and those taking part in the Procession will enter the Hall.

The Mayor will preside.

A Vote of Thanks to General Baldock will be proposed and seconded.

After the Opening Ceremony the Procession will be reformed in the above order and will return to the Town Hall.



[Leeds Central Library: 'Scrapbooks relating to Morley [Misc] No. 268': LM827 [942]]

I hope this helps, and the next time I'm up in Morley, I'll have a look to see if the Drill Hall still stands-unless someone has already replied, of course.

Kind Regards,
Dave

[Dragon]

Hello Dave

Thank you for sharing this. It highlights how much importance was attached by even the smallest towns to having the prestige of a drill hall and I've read several reports of various processions and exciting civic occasions to mark their openings. Winsford, in 1901, celebrated with a large procession, with two bands and numbers of carriages of VIPs, followed by ticket-only tea for a shilling then a dance for two shillings and sixpence which went on till 3 am. Congleton, in 1905, held a three day bazaar in which the entire drill hall was decorated to look like an army camp, complete with tents.

Today towns happily demolish them for car parks, supermarkets and apartments without a moment's thought for their history as part of the built heritage, valuable reminders of the wars which affected so much of the twentieth century. I have newpaper cuttings in which townspeople ask afterwards, 'Why did we let this happen?'

As you know the exact date, it might be worth someone contacting the local newspaper archives and asking whether they have a report of the occasion.

Many thanks for going to the trouble of typing this out. I've sent you a private message.

A photo would be excellent, if possible. I don't know what there is in the Database without looking it up, but as no two photos are the same, we're able to include several images of each building on its webpage.

Gwyn

[mruk]

Hi Gwyn,
I'm sure you're probably aware of the 'LEODIS DATABASE', but I thought you might be interested in the thread I've posted on 'Soldiers' [mm45-Officers Died: 8th E. Yorks]

There are also some photos that may be of use to 'Drills'.

St. James's Street [City Centre]
Leeds Rifles Review, Oxford Street [City Centre]
Ackroyd Street [Morley]
Queen Street Civic Procession [Morley]
T.A. Parade [Morley]

I'm sorry if you've already come across these, but it's as much about the 'blurb' as the photos themselves.

Regards,
Dave

[Dragon]

Thank you, Dave. I've followed these up and sent you an email.

Gwyn

[Graeme Fisher]

The fledgling site promised in this thread nearly four years ago has become reality.

With an immense amount of help from Gwyn, drillhalls.org has been launched.

There's so much to be done; we have a twelve month programme of counties to be loaded, references to be checked and credits to be given.

But there's some interesting stuff there for now.

Have a look and let us know.

It would never have got this far without my friends from the Forum.

Graeme

[John Hartley]

Graeme

Congratulations, mate. You must be well chuffed to see it "on show" at last.

I'm sure it will quickly become an invaluable resource for people who will see that, in many cases, the drill hall is the only tangible memorial to those who survived and came home.

Good luck

John

[Clive Maier]

Great work Graeme and Gwyn.

It is an important site of record so I suggest the launch is worthy of a new thread. A lot of Pals may miss your announcement in this long thread.

Agog for the details of Kent.

[Jim Clay]

Like John and Clive said Excellent work, Graeme and Gwyn. I think, like Clive, a new thread would be a good idea to bring this more clearly to Pals' attention.

Site launched, just a shed load of work left to populate it

Congrats.

Jim

[Charles Fair]

Fantastic work Graeme and Gwyn - looking forward to seeing London, Hertfordshire, Surrey and Kent in due course!
Charles

[Tom Morgan]

It'sa great site which is going to be THE major resource on the subject, I'm sure of that. It oozes visual quality too.

Congratulations to all.

Tom

[Graeme Fisher]

Thanks to some of the nicest Pals one could want, for your kindnesses.

It's your support that has got us this far.

Thank you.

Graeme

[shinglma]

Graeme

This is brilliant. I've added it straight to my bookmarks as it will prove so useful.

Its also a really great design.

I know how much work Gwyn and you have put it in to this and offer my heartfelt thanks.

Regards




Mike Shingleton

[Sgt_Hazell_Great...]

Are there any drill halls in the Reading area. I would be happy to take some pics if required.
Regards,
Roland.

[andyspiller]

Pals

Going to Davies Street on Friday for lunch. want any pics from inside?

Rgds

Andy

[GRUMPY]

BELATED BUT HEARTY CONGRATULATIONS AND THANKS

[Dragon]

I’m responding because Graeme is currently without Internet access. I know he would express his appreciation in person if he could.

Mike and David

We’re very grateful for your appreciative comments; thank you. Your opinions matter.

Roland

As far as I can tell, we’re rather short of Berkshire pictures. It would probably be easiest if I sent you a list of the addresses I can pick out from the database and you can decide what’s in your region and what's convenient for you. Anything you can share would be wonderful; thank you for offering.

We’re planning to load Berkshire just before Christmas, so there’s no rush.

Andy

Yes, please! We’re always grateful for images which help to bring these under-valued buildings to life. We have internal shots of other drill halls which people have visited and I always enjoy seeing what they’re like inside. (I can let you have email addresses for the project if you need one.)


Many thanks for the continued interest and to the many people who have explored the site in the last three or four days from the links on the Forum.

Gwyn

[andyspiller]

Gwyn

Will post again at the weekend

Rgds

Andy

[Sgt_Hazell_Great...]

Gwyn , email on the way.
Roland.

[Dragon]

Excellent, Andy. Thank you.

Roland - emails in reply. Thank you, too.

Gwyn

[SteveE]

Gwyn

Had a look at the new website, it looks excellent both visually and contentwise, Well done to both Graeme and yourself.

A Very minor gripe is the lack of Huntingdonshire in the list of counties, is this an oversight or was it left out deliberately as it's now been swallowed up by Cambridgeshire?

Can I ask what sort of coverage you have for St. Neots, Huntingdon, St. Ives and Ramsey as I'm aware that they all had Drill Halls at one time or another. Not sure what timescales we'd be looking at but they definitely existed in some form in 1914 when the Huntingdonshire Cyclists were raised.

If there's no coverage then I would gladly offer my help to see what I can find.

Regards

Steve

[Dragon]

Hello Steve

Huntingdon does indeed exist in its own right in Graeme's database and you've spotted an oversight that I missed in proofing the list of counties for that page of the site. I'll put it right as soon as possible. I'm sorry!

Looking at the database, I see something about the dereliction, vandalism and potential demolition of Ramsey drill hall and a redevelopment notice for the site. It would be good to have an update on what actually happened and, if it was demolished, whether anyone did any site studies (if appropriate) or took ground photos.

In St Ives, I see an address in Ball Lane (or it could be Hall Lane). There are also Drill Stations listed in Kimbolton and Somersham.

Graeme is constantly updating and expanding his database, so there's every possibility that he has material which isn't in the copy I'm using.

I'm sure that he would be very grateful for anything you can find - indeed, for anyone's contributions of information or photos. As I said earlier, he hasn't got Internet access at the moment, so I'll leave it to him to expand when he's 'back'.

Thank you very much for your input and the offer.

Gwyn

Edited: Steve, Huntingdonshire is now there in the list.

This post has been edited by Dragon: Oct 4 2006, 08:29 PM

[andyspiller]

Gwyn

Had a great day at Davies Street yesterday.

Unfortunately, I could not take my camera and had to use my phone instead. As a result, the photos are not spectacular.

The day started in the Rifles Bar which used to be the Serjeants Mess. Guess who was it's President on two occasions? I'll give you a clue...

 his2.JPG ( 44.6K ) Number of downloads: 14
 His1.jpg ( 38.73K ) Number of downloads: 16


I do have some others, including one of the actual drill hall where these plaques are located. Would you like me to email them?

I will be going back there to do some research and will definately take my camera on that occassion.

Rgds

Andy

[Sgt_Hazell_Great...]

Gwyn. Pictures taken yesterday afternoon on their way.
The Yeomanary House Drill Hall was pulled down 10 years ago and the public records office is on the site.
The Friar St. drill hall building is still there and is now used by the Halifax B.S.
Regards,
Roland.

[Dragon]

Brilliant! Thank you, Roland. I'll / we'll look forward to seeing them.

Gwyn