I joined the Scargill community 46 years ago and gained skillls and awarenesses that have fuelled my life and work ever since.

I too believe that Scargill has a vital and dynamic role to play in today's churches and society.

I believe this both because of the inordinate number of lives that were touched and changed for ever through visits of one kind and another in the past and also because of the tremendous potential of a place like Scargill in the present and the future.

50 years ago enough money and more to buy Scargill House flowed through the letter box of Middleton Rectory. I was 18 and I remember the excitement, being a part of the vision of Harold Frankham, Bernard Jacob and others, seeing this place of faith and community become established in the Dales. I remember being a temp and welcoming the first guests, the hard work, the friendships made, the growth in faith, the tears shed, the laughter shared , the place that grew to mean so much to my family, the place that I still regard as my spiritual home.

The view of Scargill House bathed in moonlight from the top of the estate.The daffodil lined driveway in spring time.

The enduring warmth of its welcome.

The fun, joy and laughter injected into the most menial of household tasks.

The unique and embracing silence of the chapel in the quiet hours of the night.

Scargill allows us to do physically, what we can then do better mentally.

Once you have experienced the material Scargill in the Dales, you can better encounter the spiritual Scargill inside yourself.

A pure running stream, a bubbling brook, a place of unspeakable joy and profound stillness.

Perhaps Scargill is so dear to us, because in it we see the truest part of ourselves. A part with which we long to be re-acquainted.

The Scargill House Community has over the past 50 years been an inspiration and a force for good in a world where people are yearning to belong , to be valued and welcomed for who they are. A group of Christians living in community together and practising the ministry of hospitality is very relevant and much needed in today's lonely world of individualists. Scargill was founded with the aims of evangelism and serving the Christian churches in the North of England, this vision has been expressed in different ways and it is just as relevant now as it was back in the first year of the Community's life. My own 2 years of living in the Scargill Community were some of of the best times of my life, very formative and healing for me personally as well as growing in faith and ministry as we all reached out to our guests. I want to see new generations of community members experiencing the sort of growth and spiritual development opportunities that we had , and to see them exercising all manner of gifts that they never knew they had until they were living in Community. My vision is for Community life and serving the guests in whichever ways are most appropriate in each generation. "My Name shall be there" as the Lord said at the beginning and shall be again.