1916

Although this year attendance continued to be good, many of the Institute’s activities are discontinued to the inevitable lack of volunteers in wartime. The fortunes of Florrie football turned, with disappointing results due to boys being matched against youths ‘twice their size’, and it was proposed that teams of Harriers would replace football. The Gymnasium and swimming teams had better luck: the gym team won the Silver Challenge Cup at the Liverpool Union of Boys’ Clubs Competition, which ‘consisted of a series of decidedly difficult Swedish movements without music..’, and swimmers winning the Challenge Championship Shield.

This year ‘about one hundred and fifty Christmas cards were sent to our men serving in all the theatres of war. Letters from soldiers testify to their pleasure on receiving these seasonable good wishes from their old Institute.’ However, the increasing length of the Institute’s casualty list caused great regret, and the report included a list of servicemen who gave their lives with an asterisk. ‘We feel the loss of these promising youths very keenly. The majority of them were regular in their attendance at the Institute and keen on attaching themselves to one or more of the Club activities. Our sympathies go out to the parents of these brave boys who in the face of the gravest danger never hesitated about doing their duty, and we feel sure this knowledge will be a consolation in their deep distress.’ Reverend A T Hall and his brother Captain Douglas Hall M.P receive a special mention for their personal war-effforts, which included the presentation of a Motor Ambulance and the original Barge Ambulance.