THE years are catching up with a building which has served the community well from 110 years.

The Barlow is in need of desperate repair, with trustees busy applying for grant, to give the "large and handsome" building in the centre of Edgworth a new lease of life, with a call for villagers to document the part the building plays in community life since 1909.

The Barlow Memorial Institute, as it was known then, in Edgworth, was opened during an afternoon of "great celebration and communal pride".

The building was a result of a private benefaction and dedicated to the memory James and Alice Barlow by their children, most notably Sir Thomas Barlow (1845– 1945).

Sir Thomas was born in Brandwood Fold, and after studying medicine in Manchester and London rose to become Professor of clinical medicine at University College London, and Royal Physician to Queen Victoria, Edward VII and George V. It was he, together with his brothers and sisters, who opened the doors at the dedication ceremony.

Villagers had long enjoyed the privilege of a recreation ground and this latest gift completed the memorial.

The Recreation Ground consisted of a bowling green, a cricket pitch, an open air swimming pool, tennis courts, a football pitch, a maze, and a decorative park complete with boating lake.

While the grounds catered for the physical welfare of the local residents, the institute catered for their minds and spirits with its reading rooms, library, lecture hall, gymnasium, billiard room and coffee room. Public baths were provided and welfare schemes put in place to support the more needy members of the community “no matter of what creed or politics”; the district nurse had consulting rooms there.

People took shelter in The Barlow from the harsh breezes, which the village was historically famous for.

Today the building is at the heart of the community, provides entertainment in the form of plays and music for villagers as well as different types of classes for young people.

Hardly a week goes by when there is not an event on.