AN American millionaire is launching an ambitious bid to 'save' his ancestral home and preserve it for residents of a tiny Wharfedale village.

R J Hawkesworth Elias Jr told the Wharfedale Observer from his Ohio farm this week that he wants to restore and save Hawksworth Hall in Hawksworth village, near Guiseley.

The Grade Two listed building is owned by the charity Scope (formerly the Spastics Society) and was used as a children's home for cerebral palsy sufferers until two years ago.

Mr Elias Jr's announcement comes just a week after Leeds city councillors on the development control panel (west) passed plans to change the former children's home into two four-bedroom and one five-bedroom houses and to build five five-bedroom houses on the site - despite the opposition of some residents in the village.

The plan, by a speculative developer, has now been referred to the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions.

Mr Elias Jr said: "After first visiting the hall in 1996, it has been my dream to strive towards the purchasing of the hall, restoring it, sharing it with the village and living in it, and making the hall my main focus in life.

"I'm not doing this for myself - I don't have any children or a wife to buy this for - I just want to preserve it as it is, a beautiful hall, for the people of Hawksworth. Ultimately I want to bequeath this hall to the villagers.

"I don't want houses to be built there - it's wholly wrong." The American, who works for a medical clinic, said that he was desperate to buy the property before it was sold to someone else. I've been trying for the last couple of years - I've flown over to meet people from Scope or estate agents on a couple of occasions, but they haven't turned up. I am determined though, whatever the price."

Mr Elias Jr is now calling on Hawksworth residents to show that they supported his campaign. He said his ancestry in Hawksworth stretched back to 932.

"My family retained the original main home, now referred to as Hawksworth Hall, until at least 1908, which is the last time my great-grandfather, Robert Wright Hawkesworth, visited the hall with my great-grandmother, Anna Myers Kirtland Hawkesworth, and their three children.

"Through her, the village of Hawksworth came alive in my mind. My grandmother and I were very close and I grew up seeing paintings, drawings and photographs of Hawksworth Hall and shared her childhood memories through her stories."

Mr Elias Jr added: "I am quite aware that the hall is in need of major repairs and much care and attention, from a functioning furnace to 500-year-old plaster that needs attention, I still feel that the hall is well worth the effort.

"It would be a crime to let this historic landmark vanish as a hall and be lost forever."

A spokesman from Scope's property services department this week confirmed that the hall was on the open market and that they were open to offers, but added that there had been serious interest in the hall from other parties.

He confirmed that Mr Elias Jnr had met with Scope's president to discuss the property, but no bid had yet been received. He urged Mr Elias to submit his bid as soon as possible.

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