MEMBERS of St John Ambulance, Skipton, who have trained to save people's lives in a cold, draughty, run down building for many years, finally have the headquarters they deserve.

The Skipton and Settle division now has purpose-built premises with large training room and balcony, meeting rooms, disabled toilets, kitchen, storage rooms, offices and garage for the ambulance.

The division took over premises on Shortbank Road in the 1930s but slowly the building deteriorated until the rooms no longer met health and safety requirements.

When husband and wife team Brian and Elizabeth Harrison took over three years ago they were determined to bring St John's Ambulance into the 21st century.

"It has been our ambition to build a new hall or have the other adapted," said Mrs Harrison.

She added that the building was in such a poor state it was cheaper to build a new one.

Back in January part of the land just near the junction with Ermysted's Street was sold to Skipton Properties which planned to demolish the HQ and build houses on the site. As part of the deal it constructed St John's a new, purpose built hall.

But the new home did not come easily. Since the work began at the end of January, the 15 members have had to struggle through debris to meetings in the old building whilst garages on the site were pulled down to make space for the new one.

"They were putting new drains in, demolishing the garages which we owned and we were walking through mud every Wednesday," said Mrs Harrison.

The new building has been handed over just in time for the ambulance service's busiest time of the year. "It's like a state of the art building, we are over the moon," said Mrs Harrison.

She added that it was a privilege to have central heating and hot water. "All we had before were overhead heaters in winter. It was absolutely freezing, and we had to rely on someone going in and turning them on before we arrived," she said.

The group will now be able to offer the use of facilities to other groups. The first group to take up the offer is the reformed St John Ambulance Skipton Cadets.

Sally Collard has taken on the responsibility for training the 10 to 18 yearolds. She said: "It is some time since there has been an active cadet unit in Skipton, but after recent inquiries from local children and their parents I have undergone the necessary training to re-establish the unit.

"The aims are to provide training in essential first aid and care skills for school age children, and to encourage teamwork, social responsibility, community service and personal development."

Anyone interested in joining should contact her on 01756 797738.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.