£7.5m bid to save retreat (From Craven Herald)

£7.5m bid to save retreat

1:53pm Friday 1st August 2008 in Local news By Clive White, Senior Reporter

An appeal has gone out to rescue a Christian retreat by raising £7.5 million, after the first meeting of the Save Scargill Action Group.

Supporters who met in Christ Church, Skipton, were told £85,000 had already been pledged to buy the 100 acre estate and house, near Kettlewell, which closed on July 20 after 50 years.

Spearheading the campaign is Peter Lewis, a former member of the Scargill community.

He said: "My belief is that there must be 100,000 people who have used Scargill House over the past 50 years and, if each contributed £75, we should have enough."

The trustees were asking £2.5 million for the complex, but there were setting-up costs and repairs and maintenance of the building to consider. Campaigners are trying to persuade the trustees to hold off the sale to give them time to raise the cash.

"Already we have had pledges of £25, of £1,000 and some of £25,000, which is very encouraging," said Mr Lewis.

People at the meeting were angry that the closure was being treated as a commercial business closure rather than the winding-up of a residential charity. They believed there was a possibility of setting up a new company, limited by guarantee and with charitable status.

A relaunched centre could provide activities for learning and recreation, music, dance, painting, sculpture and poetry, as well as being a place of spiritual retreat, said Mr Lewis. Hundreds of supporters have sent messages of support and expressed sorrow and dismay on the Save Scargill website.

The Right Reverend Chris Edmondson, Bishop of Bolton, a former vicar of St Peter's Church, Shipley, expressed sadness in a letter to the Church Times. He writes: "In our stress-filled, hurry-sick world, it has never been more important that people have places where they can step back and be refreshed in body, mind and spirit."

Scargill trustee, David Baker, said the community had been running at a deficit. "It is laudable to want to keep something that has been very special to all of us - the cold reality is that it is not viable on the current site," he said.

"We've had a request to give them (the campaigners) time, but we are constrained by the bank among others and are now in the process of appointing an agent."

He expected the estate to be offered on the open market rather than at auction. The money raised would be used in setting up a new grant-giving foundation enabling work to be carried out in communities rather than people going out to Scargill.

The closure of the Grade II listed site has meant the loss of 20 jobs. The site includes a listed chapel by award-winning architect George Pace.

The Save Scargill House website is at savescargill.wordpress.com.