History

In the 1870s only 200 people lived in Arnside but the children had to walk over the fields to Beetham for school.

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Local Wesleyans clubbed together to set up a school under the British and Foreign Schools Society.

In 1886 the National School took over the responsibility of educating Arnside children but the EI continued to house lectures, adult education, a reading room, a library and social events. 

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The EI moved over its lifetime from the original school on Briery Bank to a building on Pier Lane, and in 1926 to its current premises in the old stables of the Albion Hotel on Church Hill.