In July 1900 a
group of Methodists met in the Band Room at the 'Wesleyan Chapel
Knaresborough' (the present Gracious Street Methodist Chapel) to discuss
the possibility of forming a new church in Scriven, where significant house
construction was planned in what is now the Park Grove area. Following an abortive attempt to purchase a
plot of land on a site which is now at the corner of Park Road and Scriven
Road, and abandoned in 1902 because of its 'unsuitability', the present
site in Park Grove was purchased, in that year, by 'the people called
Methodists'. Plans were drawn up for the construction of a chapel and
before the start of
building it was
decided that a Sunday School should be added and this is the present choir
vestry. In 1934 when the growth of the Sunday School was overwhelming the space available a new Schoolroom was added '10 feet from the gable of the Sunday School, to the West, and parallel to the Chapel'. The project was
significantly helped by an old scholar of the early Sunday School, Mr. Philip
(later Lord) Inman, who rose from humble origins to one of the highest offices
in the Civil Service. In the year of the Golden Jubilee of the opening of the Chapel, 1954, a further extension to the rear
of the 1934 Schoolroom, was added together with a kitchen and additional
building work to connect the Schoolroom to the main body of the Chapel, closing
the door into the original Sunday School and relocating it in the present
position. This room was, not surprisingly, called the Jubilee Room.
In 1989 it was decided to extend
the chapel building to the rear and provide vestries and modern toilet
facilities to replace the antiquated lean to boiler house and outside toilet.
The Building In Faith Fund (BIFF) was able to raise money both locally and
through grants such that the project was completed, free of debt in a short
period of time. The present church membership supports a number of widely varying activities and the buildings are in use by many local organisations. |