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Youngsters enjoying the facilities at Burnley Boys and Girls Club have a World War One captain – and the generosity of the wartime public – to thank for their club’s survival.

In the years before the war, Henry Riley set up Burnley Lads Club. His idea was to provide a way of keeping the town’s young men on the straight and narrow.

When war broke out, Riley and many of the lads from the club joined up. They became part of the now-famous ‘Accrington Pals’ Battalion of the East Lancashire Regiment.

The Pals suffered terrible losses on the first day of the Battle of the Somme in July 1916. Captain Riley was amongst the dead. When news reached Burnley that he had been killed, the local public were determined that the Lads Club should continue and a fund was set up for that purpose.

The club survived and it’s still going today, now known as the Burnley Boys and Girls Club.

Location: Burnley Boys and Girls Club, Barden Playing Fields, Barden Lane, Burnley, Lancashire BB10 1JQ
Image: Henry Riley, courtesy of Burnley Council and Towneley Hall Art Gallery and Museums

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