THE Arnside Educational Institute Archive (EI) celebrated its 150th anniversary by staging an exhibition of its history and the history of several schools in the village. 

Over a hundred people visited the exhibition which was on display in the Joyce Nicholson Hall on 7 October and organised by the Arnside Archive. The occasion also marked the launch of the publication of a history of the EI written by Norma Platts. 

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

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. 

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. 

The Arnside Archive (started in 2012) receives donations of items of local significance. It continues to hold a workshop on Wednesday mornings.