THIS is the long gone Drill Hall, on Stow Hill.

Member of our We Grew Up in Newport Facebook group Pete Brown shared the image and said: "The Drill Hall on Stow Hill was above St Mary's Church.

"It was opened in 1875 as the Royal Albert Hall, and served many purposes before it became the drill hall about 20 years later as the base for the 1st Mons. My great-grandfather served with them in the First World War."

He added some text from the history of the university: "More suitable accommodation was found in the Albert Hall Chambers from January 1880, consisting of one large room, two smaller ones and a Master’s room; these chambers were attached to the Royal Albert Hall on Stow Hill, just above St Mary’s Church.

"The Hall was built in 1875 and described in Kelly’s 1901 Directory as ‘… a structure of brick, capable of seating 1,100 persons, and has numerous anterooms; it is used for lectures, concerts and other entertainments’.

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"It hosted a range of popular events in the 1880s, including Tayleur’s Great American Circus (which included the performance of ‘Dr Carl the Demon Marksman’ – the finest shot in the world), Newport Choral Society’s performance of Handel’s Messiah, with two hundred voices and a band of fifty instruments and in 1893 General Booth addressed the massed ranks of the Salvation Army there to rapturous applause."

Another member of the WGUIN group, Douglas Pritchard, said: "I used to go to the Drill Hall dance every Saturday night in 1946 until it closed many years later."

Bob Jones posted another picture of the building, taking in 1916.

South Wales Argus: Drill Hall, Stow Hill, from Bob Jones

He said: "The soldier far right is my father age 17 years, just before he went to France. He came home with shell-fragment wounds and spent nearly six months recovering at the Grange Military Hospital, Southport."

Chris Edwards added to the memories: "I went in there once as we were getting ready for an armistice parade about 1968/9. We lead the last of the Old Contemptibles as Kaiser Bill liked to call the British soldiers to the Cenotaph. After the parade we went to the British Legion where some told their stories."

Rosemary Scadden said: "I remember going there to see some first aid demonstrations. I was very impressed by those playing the injured parties and being bandaged!"

And Jennifer Barker said: "I remember this building as a child. My uncle was based here, something to do with the army. He was a soldier in the Second World War."