The Northern Synod of the United Reformed Church has four buildings in Keld, Swaledale:
The church continues today as an inspiring, functioning place of worship. The rest of the buildings served for around 35 years as an outward bound-type centre mainly for church groups of up to 25-30 people residing in bunk rooms before falling into disuse partly through the foot and mouth crisis which hit the Dales badly, and partly through changing societal requirements. It closed in 2006.
Northern Synod of the URC looked at a range of options including redevelopment, keep going as it is, sale and closure. It now plans to refurbish the centre into higher quality buildings with the aim of enabling their use as a centre for church, environmental, walking, study etc groups with the aim of accommodating 20 people. The intention is to have accommodation in bedrooms with kitchen / dining / meeting facilities in due course. Market research suggests that there is need / desire for this type of accommodation in the Dales. Current discussions with the Methodist church may lead to inclusion of its redundant church building in Keld in the plan also and increasing the capacity to nearer 30.
The steps for this are:
A not-for-profit company has been established to manage the project and operation under the chairmanship of David Peel. Further details of the project can be found at www.tkrc.org.uk.
For further information, please contact Graham Aird at graham.aird@ntlworld.com, or on 07775-606461.