Comrades Club
About
After the first world war (the Great War) former servicemen set up clubs across the nation to be known as Comrades of the Great War Clubs. Our club is one of the survivors of that movement and now known simply as “The Comrades” We still hold to the founding principles, stated in their own words:
“The main object of the Comrades was to keep alive the spirit of comradeship which was born of the 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 had proved himself the better man. We wanted to prevent a recurrence of the old misunderstanding between employer and employed, to make impossible that class warfare into which we nearly drifted before August 4th 1914. Comradeship was the thing to do it.”
Although all the founding members have now passed on, as indeed have most of our W.W.2 veterans, we still retain out links to their ideals and honour their memory at times of national remembrance.
Whilst the military origins are reflected in our rules and practices, we are essentially a private (non affiliated) members club.
The Building
Facilities include a large members bar and lounge, billiard/snooker room, pool and darts room, T.V. lounge. The bar lounge has an entertainment area, where booked artists perform weekly, and a large screen T.V. where we can screen national sporting and social events.
The upper part of the building is home to the Blackpool & Flylde Model Railway Club (known affectionately as the “Railway Children”) to which visitors are welcome, and Orb Art a collective of local teaching and practising artists.
Membership
Our membership, now both men and women, is very varied, and we welcome service, ex-service, and non service members, notably the Sub Mariners Association meet here regularly.
Visitors are welcome, introduced by a member or by prior arrangement with the secretary. If you visit us and you subsequently feel you wish to join the club, application forms are available from the bar or by writing to the secretary (enc. SAE)
Events 2009
MAY
More events coming soon!