MUNICIPAL LIFE OF BLACKPOOL 89 



demand being for supply to 3,000 eight-candle-power lamps. During the 

 last five years the number of consumers has grown from 20,960 to 33,264, 

 and the sale of current from 38,326,532 to 47,068,115 units. With the 

 exception (in its earlier days) of some five or six years, the undertaking has 

 been commercially successful, contributing from its profits substantial sums 

 to rate relief. 



The area of supply includes districts adjoining Blackpool which are supplied 

 under powers contained in Fringe Orders. The greater part of the current is 

 now obtained in bulk from the Preston Corporation under orders of the Central 

 Electricity Board. The electricity mains total 676 miles, and the electric 

 lamps for public lighting number 2,942. 



Education and Public Libraries. 



Close upon 20 Council schools have been erected since the first Board 

 school was opened in 1902. As the result of recent Parliamentary and 

 Departmental activity, the Corporation, as the Local Education Authority, are 

 faced with the difficult and expensive problem of providing further school 

 accommodation. At the two secondary schools, the Boys' Grammar School 

 and the Girls' Collegiate School, there are over 800 children in average 

 attendance. A fine Technical College is also nearing completion. 



The Free Library Acts (as they were then termed) were adopted as far back 

 as 1879, and the Public Library was established in the Octagon Room of the 

 Assembly Rooms (now Yates's Wine Lodge) in Talbot Square in 1880. 

 This Library was officially opened on the 1 8th June of that year by the then 

 Right Hon. the Earl of Derby. In March, 1895, the Library was removed 

 to more commodious premises in the new Municipal Buildings, which had 

 meanwhile been erected in close proximity to the present Town Hall. In 

 the progression of time branch municipal libraries have been opened in several 

 parts of the borough. Mr. Andrew Carnegie, on the 10th April, 1906, 

 intimated that he would be glad to provide £15,000 for a Free Public Library. 

 The building was erected at the comer of Maybell Avenue and Queen Street. 



An Art Gallery, the gift of Sir Cuthbert Grundy, J.P., and his brother, 

 Mr. J. R. G. Grundy, was erected on the Queen Street side, adjoining the 

 Library. Both buildings were officially opened on the 26th October, 1911. 

 The Carnegie Library was opened by the Mayor (Councillor W. H. 

 Broadhead, J.P.), and the Art Gallery by the Right Hon. the Lord Shuttleworth, 

 Lord Lieutenant of the County of Lancaster. 



Public Park. 



An extensive Public Park on the easterly side of the town was designed 

 and the laying-out supervised by Messrs. Thomas H. Mawson and Son, of 

 Lancaster. It was formally opened on the 2nd October, 1926, by the Right 

 Hon. the Earl of Derby, K.G., and bears the name of Stanley Park. Parts of 

 the park area were generously presented to the Corporation by the late 

 Alderman Sir John Bickerstaffe, J.P., Thomas Marquis Watson, Esq., and 

 William Lawson, Esq. 



