Way back in 1969, a group of us from what was then the 'St Bede Youth Club' went to a place called Scargill House for a Youth Weekend. On that occaision I was taken there by the then Curate of St Bede (Alan Litton) along with his wife and baby. Along with two others we were all packed into his little Austin for the journey.

I don't remember many of the details of the trip, except seeing Kilnsey Crag for the first time as we passed by. We couldn't see much as it was a dark November evening and the headlights of the Austin weren't that good.

Something about Scargill House must have made an impression as I returned there for several more Youth Weekends in February and November for the next few years, and then for a Youth Week nearer to the middle of a year. On The Youth Week we did Abseiling and Rock Climbing, along with a lot more fell walking. One recurring after effect of the Youth Weekends etc. was that of a Caving/Potholing trip and lots of muddy clothes to take home.

I kept on going to Scargill House from then on for one or two weeks during the Summer Houseparty season, right up to the last couple of years. About 15 years ago, I learned that Scargill House were holding other Special Interest breaks, and the one on Photography caught my eye. As far as I can remember, I've been to every Photography break since then. The first that I attended along with several others was lead by Mike Peak who was part of the Scargill Community. After Mike the Photography breaks were lead by Steve Rayner who is a Professional Photographer from Guisley near Leeds. There have been a couple of others leading the Photography breaks from the team at Durham Cathedral, but I'm happy to say that Steve returned to lead the Photography break in March 2008.

Steve was approached to run another Photography break to be held sometime around September 2008, and I was on the fron row to say that "I'll Be Back!". Everything went quiet about that and I was about to chase things up, when I received a letter from Scargill House to say that they were closing down for good on the 20th July 2008 and the House/Contents would be auctioned off.

After going to Scargill House every year for the past 39 years, I had come to think of it as a second home and you can guess how this news left me feeling.

A week before the closedown, I was going to go up to Kettlewell to Marshal on a Classic Car run which I'd been doing for quite a few years. Each time I would call in to Scargill House to say hello to people that I knew there. This time things were different, as I was saying Goodbye.

There were a couple of good moments as I met up again with Mike Peak who was doing the same as me. Sitting in the Green Room (Long Room) for the last time, I met with some new friends for the first time, which even given the current situation is what usually happened at Scargill House. It was in the dim & distant past at Scargill House that I met Malcolm & Pat Bristow for the first time, and you know what that has lead to.

There are quite a lot of people who have been touched by their visits to Scargill House, and past Community and Guests are as I write thiis grouping together to form a 'Rescue Bid' to try and save Scargill House. You can see comments from the Save Scargill Blog by clicking on the 'Save Scargill' button at the top on this page.

Bye for now, John Heaton