SOCIAL INSTITUTE....
George H Foster.
An extract from -
History of Earl Shilton, Tooley Park
and Potters Marston.
by G. H. Foster.
In aid of
Earl Shilton, Elmesthorpe and Thurlaston
Services’ Fund
Registered under War Charities’ Act, 1940.
Reproduced here with kind permission of
Mrs Kind (daughter of G H Foster)
The Social Institute was opened in 1909. It formerly held its meetings in the premises now occupied by the present gas offices in
Wood Street.
This useful body once boasted of many sporting activities, including football, cricket, rifle range, chess club, skittles and billiards,
besides the many concerts organised by its members.
The Great War sadly depleted its members and for some years things went flat. However, today a splendid new billiard room has now been added
and a large lounge provided with settees.
In earlier years the village coffee shops provided the venue of gossip for the young men who would congregate nightly for their games and
talks. One known as Mary Puffer's was situated in the Old Post Office Row in High Street.
The old gas works in Station Road were dismantled a few years ago and Shilton now gets its supply from Hinckley, which is owned by the Urban
authority. Water for drinking and other purposes is now supplied from Snarestone and is pumped via Hinckley through pipes, a great asset to
the inhabitants, if one takes into account the typhoid epidemics so prevalent last century in this village.
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