Paradise House - Scarborough

This article was written by Mick Procter a former Scarborough Sea Cadet

I had the pleasure or reading the article covering the history of Paradise House. It particularly interested me to read that the school was donated to Scarborough corporation. Though the article is full of history I feel it is important to point out that it falls a little short with regards to its later life.

The building had a brief reprise when it was occupied by Scarborough Sea Cadets in the late 1970's. I was a young boy scout of the 49th Eastfield troop set on pursuing a career in the Royal Navy, I learnt that there was a Sea Cadet unit in the town and left the Scouts to join. The unit was based in a very old building in back trinity road. One up and one down as I remember with a raisable ladder to the upper floor. Shortly after joining we were given the exciting news of a new unit premises by our then Commanding Officer, Derek Haggerston. It was the old Graham Sea Training school at Paradise Road. We spent several"working weekends" moving stores and equipment into our new headquarters and settled in for several enjoyable years.

The building was "as good as it gets" for a Sea Cadet Unit. We had the old playground to use as an outdoor parade ground and the old school gym as an indoor parade hall. The abundance of classrooms to teach cadets added to its finer points. The building was also very grand with its main staircase sweeping to the old living areas and quirky servants stairway to one side leading from the kitchens on the basement to the servants quarters in the attic. No doubt a wealthy merchants house at one time. It also had a special feel about it and of course tales of a ghost, said to be that of a former head who had taken his life in the upper rooms?

I left Pindar school in 1980 and joined the Royal Navy in June of the same year. The Sea Cadet Unit carried on at Paradise but bad news was on the horizon with the local council eying up the premises for development. The unit was moved from the main building into the old school gymnasium which was originally our main indoor parade deck, facilities suddenly became cramped and the final death knoll for the Cadets at Paradise tolled in the early 1980's. There were shouts at the council in protest as it was mentioned that the school had been left to the council for the benefit of those who sought a life at sea but to no avail. The Cadets were offered the old motor museum at the bottom of sandgate for a similar peppercorn rent as at Paradise House and Paradise House was developed into several private residences.

Many ex Scarborough Sea Cadets who attended the unit at Paradise House like myself made their way into the Royal Navy.

I hope this could be added to the article as Paradise House still holds a special place in my memories and though I now reside in Plymouth, I have passed by the house many times on my regular visits to the town.

Mick Procter
-Former Scarborough Sea Cadet
-Ex WO2 Royal Navy
-First Lieutenant
-TS Goldenhind
-Plymouth Drake Sea Cadets




OTHER ARTICLES
• The national RNLI and the Scarborough lifeboat of 1861.
• The press gang and the Royal Navy at Scarborough
• Tommy Rowley - stories about loss of life at sea
• The 200 year history of scarboroughs RNLI
• Strange customs amongst the Scarborough shipbuilders
• Sailing ships - a true ghost story
• Scarborough pleasure boats - the Bilsdale, Coronia and Royal Lady
• The history of the herring fishing in the North Sea
• Harwood Brierleys description of Scarborough harbour at the opening of the 20th century
• The early years of the Scarborough Lifeboat
• The U-Boat campaign in the First World War
• A sea shanty about a storm on the Scarborough coast
• The history of the Graham Sea Training School
• Coastal erosion in the 19th Century around the North Bay and Scarborough Castle area
• The port of Scarborough in the late 15th Century
• Filey and the gales of 1860,1867,1869 AND 1880
• World war one outbreak. The war effort in Scarborough
• Tunny fishing in Scarborough in the 1930's
• The history of the Scarborough fishing industry

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