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A COMMUNITY centre has been given a new lease of life by 4th Golcar Scouts in good time for their 60th anniversary.

The celebrations kicked off at 11am on Saturday with a parade through the centre of Golcar, from the Liberal club, along Town End and on to the centre in Manor Road.

The Scout and Community Centre, which will now by leased by the group, was officially opened by the Lord Lieutenant of West Yorkshire Dr Ingrid Roscoe.

The Scouts’ Chief Commissioner of England, Tim Kidd, was also given the honour of opening the Gilwell Room, a multi-purpose training and meeting room in the centre.

Golcar Scout leader Daniel Haigh said: “We had a fantastic day. The parade went really well and there was a real celebratory atmosphere.

“It has taken about eight months for us to carry out work on the building.

“When we started plaster was hanging off the walls so we have re-plastered and painted everywhere and given it a good facelift. Having management of the centre will give us more freedom and allow us to carry out further improvements to the building as well as tailoring our storage areas to our equipment needs.

“We plan to carry out work to the kitchen in the coming months as there is only a basic cooker in there.”

The centre – which will be used by the 170 strong unit – comprises two groups of Beavers, two groups of Cubs, one Scout group and an Explorer section.

Other special guests attending the open day included West Yorkshire County Commissioner Mark Stageman, the Mayor of Kirklees Clr Eric Firth and Colne Valley MP Jason McCartney.

The centre is the former youth club building and is being leased to the Scouts from Kirklees Council.