Temporary job has lasted 20 years - so far

Run down and unloved, it was to be closed down and boarded up - but the then town council rallied round and secured a lease from owners Leeds City Council.

A deal was struck and the town council became the tenant with the city council the landlord.

Two decades later, the town council is still the leaseholder, responsible for the inside of the building and the decorating, while the outside of the building is down to the far bigger city council.

Over the years it has been home to WI markets and to various clubs and societies, has provided a venue for many bands, been a sleeping place for Morris dancers and parts of it have appeared on many a popular television programme.

As new tenants, in 1981, the town council advertised for someone to deal with bookings and act as caretaker. The job, advertised in Otley Jobcentre in Kirkgate, called for a 'temporary warden to look after caretaking and the administration of bookings.'

Malcolm Scott, of Pool Road, had just been made redundant from the textile industry and was looking for a job. A weaving overlooker - responsible for repairing weaving machinery - he had worked at Salts Mill, Saltaire, at Listers Mill in Bradford and had even spent two years in New Zealand on a contract before being made redundant.

"I went to the job centre every day for five weeks looking for a job and then I saw this one, it said the person had to live nearby - so you'd always be on call."

At his interview, just about every member of the council wanted to fire questions at him.

"It was rather a daunting interview with just about every member of the council round this big table," he said.

Mr Scott got the job and 20 years later the 'temporary' position has become permanent and his title is now Centre Manager.

Today, the centre is used by a huge number of organisations and groups from bridge clubs and women's forums to Otley Action for Older People and Park Lane College.

It is also used for line dancing and a more recent trend - for Tai Chi.

Yorkshire Television uses it for filming scenes in Heartbeat and Emmerdale and it is a venue for Otley Folk Festival.

And every few years, it is the main meeting place for an annual gathering of Morris dancers.

"I call them the great unwashed and they won't mind me calling them that. They come from all over the place and just doss down in the centre wherever they can - on the stage, wherever. They're a great bunch and after they were here this year they sent a letter thanking us," he said.

Various parts of the building have also been seen in Heartbeat and Emmerdale. The centre's newly refurbished Chippendale Room, which could soon be used for marriages, doubled as a church in a recent episode of Emmerdale.

"Chris Tate and Kathy, from Emmerdale, got married in Room 6 and one of the side doors was the Tax Office in Heartbeat," said Mr Scott. "There was one time when they were filming when we had Greengrass here. He'd gone to the tax office with all this stuff including a big black bear. He'd come along to pay in kind.

"Another time Kathy and Alan Turner from Emmerdale were here. They were supposed to be meeting a councillor. This chubby bloke with ginger hair kept running down the stairs, there was shades of the truth in that one."

There have been a number of characters and different chairmen of the Civic Centre Committee.

"Richard Good was quite a strong driving force as Civic Centre chairman and Hilda Morgan was a stalwart of the council who really got things going with the building."

Others have been Christine Campbell, Mike Evans and Ann Smith. The present chairman is Ray Dunn.

"Councillor Norman Hindle was a character. I can remember him picking up his minutes from meetings and putting them straight in the bin, you could say he was very quick at binning the minutes of meetings."

Disputes have mostly been restricted to the council chamber when meetings between councillors have become heated, but one time Mr Scott was forced to eject an unruly youth.

"There was someone in the snooker room vandalising it. I picked up a wet mop and chased him out of the building, as he ran out I wiped it over the back of his neck."

Today, Mr Scott, 62, who is married to Rosalyn and has four grown-up children and seven grandchildren, is proud to say the centre still has the same staff of three part-time wardens and three cleaning staff. Only retirement has led people to leave.

"I've had a good time over the years and have met a lot of pleasant people as well as a lot of ignorant people. You could say I've seen the best and the worse of people."

Councillor Graham Kirkland said: "It has been a pleasure to work with Malcolm for 20 years. Everyone enjoys his smile and friendly, helpful attitude when they go to the Civic Centre.

"He is a first class officer to be on the front line to greet residents arriving and callers on the phone."