The Comrades Club of the Great War is where the Blackpool Submariners meet every month.
Before WW1, the building was known as Blackpool Grammar School. If anyone could add to it's history, we would be grateful. Contact
The historical data below has been reproduced with the kind permission of Dr. Jill Fernie-Clarke.
The Old Comrades of the Great War Club
(The Beginning)
The first entry in the records of the minutes of meetings at the Comrades Club was made On 10th October 1917 and the minutes of a meeting on 1st July 1918 at 7.30pm state that The Branch had registered under the War Charities Act of 1916.
There was a nationwide network of ‘Comrades of the Great War’ with the head Office being at 8 Grosvenor Crescent, London SW1. Other local clubs were the Poulton and Preston branches with whom the Blackpool Comrades competed at football and boxing (13/01/20). A newspaper report in the Blackpool Herald on 3rd May 1918 (kept with the Minutes) reports a public meeting that was held to scotch rumours about the reasons for the Club; at this meeting, the purpose of the Comrades Club was clearly stated:
“The main objective of the Comrades was to keep alive the spirit of comradeship which was born of stress of this Great War. If we had learnt to appreciate anything, we had learned to appreciate our fellow-man of any rank. We had the employer and the labouring man (rotten expressions, but they had to be used), fighting shoulder to shoulder, and in many cases the employed man was an officer over his employed because in the rough and tumble of war he proved himself the better man. We wanted to prevent the recurrence of the old misunderstanding between employer and employed, to make impossible that class warfare into which we nearly drifted, 4th August 1914. Comradeship was the thing to do it.”
This statement demonstrates how the experience of war had a levelling and therefore political impact upon the men involved. Thus, on their return home, they were inspired to mobilise as ‘Comrades of the Great War’ in order to maintain the positive spirit of Comradeship. At the outset, there appear to have been three types of meeting: weekly Committee Meetings, Monthly General Meetings that were held in the Free Library in Queens St. and an Annual General Meeting
Today there are fortnightly Committee Meetings and twice yearly Annual
General Meetings.
The early minutes reveal that from the outset, the need for Club premises was pressing and on 4th March 1919 the minutes tell us that premises at 16 Central Road Blackpool were deemed suitable. It seems that these premises were purchased and and subsequently sold at auction sale decided upon 8th July 1919. On 3rd June 1919 the current premises on Adelaide Street are mentioned for the first time. At a Committee Meeting held on Tues 30th September 1919 at 7.30pm there was a discussion of alterations to the club premises at Adelaide Street:
“……. lower portion of the premises to make the lounge and bar and billiard room, Secretary’s Office and Committee Room with two rooms to spare for whatever use we might care to make of them.”
(Today there is still a lounge, bar and billiard room on the lower floor as is the Secretary’s Office which is shared with the Submariners Association.)
Lord Derby was approached to formally open the Club and unveiled the Memorial Plaque (below) on 24 th January 1920.
The first entry in the records of the minutes of meetings at the Comrades Club was made On 10th October 1917 and the minutes of a meeting on 1st July 1918 at 7.30pm state that The Branch had registered under the War Charities Act of 1916.
There was a nationwide network of ‘Comrades of the Great War’ with the head Office being at 8 Grosvenor Crescent, London SW1. Other local clubs were the Poulton and Preston branches with whom the Blackpool Comrades competed at football and boxing (13/01/20). A newspaper report in the Blackpool Herald on 3rd May 1918 (kept with the Minutes) reports a public meeting that was held to scotch rumours about the reasons for the Club; at this meeting, the purpose of the Comrades Club was clearly stated:
“The main objective of the Comrades was to keep alive the spirit of comradeship which was born of stress of this Great War. If we had learnt to appreciate anything, we had learned to appreciate our fellow-man of any rank. We had the employer and the labouring man (rotten expressions, but they had to be used), fighting shoulder to shoulder, and in many cases the employed man was an officer over his employed because in the rough and tumble of war he proved himself the better man. We wanted to prevent the recurrence of the old misunderstanding between employer and employed, to make impossible that class warfare into which we nearly drifted, 4th August 1914. Comradeship was the thing to do it.”
This statement demonstrates how the experience of war had a levelling and therefore political impact upon the men involved. Thus, on their return home, they were inspired to mobilise as ‘Comrades of the Great War’ in order to maintain the positive spirit of Comradeship. At the outset, there appear to have been three types of meeting: weekly Committee Meetings, Monthly General Meetings that were held in the Free Library in Queens St. and an Annual General Meeting
Today there are fortnightly Committee Meetings and twice yearly Annual
General Meetings.
The early minutes reveal that from the outset, the need for Club premises was pressing and on 4th March 1919 the minutes tell us that premises at 16 Central Road Blackpool were deemed suitable. It seems that these premises were purchased and and subsequently sold at auction sale decided upon 8th July 1919. On 3rd June 1919 the current premises on Adelaide Street are mentioned for the first time. At a Committee Meeting held on Tues 30th September 1919 at 7.30pm there was a discussion of alterations to the club premises at Adelaide Street:
“……. lower portion of the premises to make the lounge and bar and billiard room, Secretary’s Office and Committee Room with two rooms to spare for whatever use we might care to make of them.”
(Today there is still a lounge, bar and billiard room on the lower floor as is the Secretary’s Office which is shared with the Submariners Association.)
Lord Derby was approached to formally open the Club and unveiled the Memorial Plaque (below) on 24 th January 1920.