Blackpool Photographs
1900 - 1970
Below is you can leaf through two very different albums depicting the school of Layton Hill from 1910 to 1920 and the parish school of the Sacred Heart on Talbot Road in Blackpool itself. SHCJ sisters taught at both of these schools and they remain an important part of the SHCJ's history in the North West of England.
Secondly, the gallery of loose Blackpool community pictures shows how the Society served the locality in a variety of educational and other ministries over time.
Layton Hill Album
1910 - 1920
These photographs come from a now broken up album of very early photographs of Layton Hill Convent and School. There are no dates on any of the pages, but the album can be given an appoximate date of 1910 to 1920 as the dress of the pupils suggests this period and there is an image of a past pupil of Layton Hill - Nora Mary O'Connor, later Mother Mary Paul - as a novice. This picture must have been taken in 1918 or 1920 since M.M. Paul was first professsed on 8th September 1917 and would have come to Layton Hill in her second year as a novice.
Like many of the SHCJ albums, there are not only images of convent and school interiors that help us imagine these buildings during this period, but there are also several portraits of groups of students giving us a sense of life at the school.
Blackpool Sacred Heart School Album 1
1943 - 1953
This extensive album of photographs appears to have been kept by a SHCJ sister or staff member who taught at the Sacred Heart Parish School on Talbot Road Blackpool in the 1940s and 1950s. It is possible that the album was owned by Mother St Edward McEntree since a loose picture in the front cover shows her celebrating her 70th Jubilee (anniversary of her profession as an SHCJ sister) in 1990.
This album shows life at the school both before and after the Second World War, with images showing pupils helping with potato picking. It is also testament to the teaching methods of M.M. St Edward and her staff who ensured the children of this overcorwded parish school received a wholistic education, taking part in inventive plays and dance festivals and attending trips to Stonyhurst and the Lake District.
