Park Grove Methodist Church

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.