Scout Headquarters with a difference

Had a much better day today. I went out towards Shipley on my way home as there are a number of interesting Blip ideas and this is among them.

This is the HQ of the 1st Shipley Scouts. I was never a Scout as playing games and sport never appealed to me at the time - obviously it is much, much more than that but then I didn't know! Nevertheless the Scouts are a fabulous organisation and do an awful lot for Young People all over the world and for those who lead and help them.

This is a Scout HQ with a difference. It's thatched which is most unusual and began life as a Methodist Chapel. It was built in 1880 and closed in 1951. Most Scout HQ's I pass by on my travels are very functional buildings and usually modern, but this one is most unusual and it is very good that the chapel has a good new use. Before the porch was added there were windows now bricked up either side of the door. At the apex of the gable wall above the porch is a stone that no doubt would have carried the date possibly with initials as was common when a new church or chapel was built. This has been scratched out completely, probably when it ceased to be used for worship. We may never know what was on that stone!