3-021-186 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Interior of new Gymnasium in Myrtle-Street, Liverpool, 1865. 'The large hall presents to the eye an array of ladders, bars, ropes, and nets, which to the uninitiated is hopelessly bewildering...Mr. Hulley, the well- known master of athletic sports and exercises, under whose superintendence these arrangements have been completed, has had a most extensive experience both in England and on the Continent; and we may safely say that everything the most accomplished gymnast may desire will here be found...The ladies' classes, and the youths' classes...have been so far very successful...The scene from the gallery at eight o'clock in the evening...is a most animated and pleasing one. From 100 to 150 or 200 finely-built athletes, with iron muscle and unflinching nerve observable in every movement, are here, there, and everywhere, and all performing some feat of grace or strength...In the centre a class...are ventilating their lungs a little by a series of graceful movements...ladies and gentlemen are now admitted nightly to the gallery; and we are sure that all who pay the gymnasium a visit will agree with us that they have been gratified with what they have seen, and that they will do all they can to make the institution a success'. From "Illustrated London News", 1865.