HISTORY – BY PETER FOX
IN NOVEMBER 1908 Saddleworthians were treated to a visit by a famous person – his full title at the time was, Lieutenant-General R. S. S. Baden-Powell G.B.
He was generally known amongst his friends as B-P. Inevitably his name is nowadays more associated with the founding of the scout movement which had started in 1907. 
At the time he was however more well-known for his military prowess, made famous with his defence of the small South African town of Mafeking during the Boer War. Look at the photograph below with the Commercial Hotel in Uppermill festooned with bunting and a banner welcoming Baden Powell – The Hero of Mafeking.
B-P’s visit to Saddleworth was to open the newly built Saddleworth Drill Hall which had just been built to provide a base for the Saddleworth Company of the seventh West Riding Territorial’s whose origins in Saddleworth had been with the 34th West Yorkshire Rifle Volunteers. The Drill Hall had been designed in such a way that it could be used in many ways other than its military associations, these included ‘…..meetings, concerts, balls, bazaars etc.’
The papers at the time describe the visit of B-P with thousands lining the High Street in Uppermill including 250 members of the Territorial Force. B-P arrived at the venue in a motor car which in 1908 would have been a novelty in its own right. 
B-P was welcomed to Saddleworth by Captain Tanner and in giving a military welcome to the visitor said that nearly nine years previous during the dark days of the Boer War it was thought by a number of patriotic gentlemen that a Volunteer Corps should be founded and after applying to the Government this was granted.
There was a requirement for establishing a base for the volunteers and the opening of the Drill Hall was the outcome of this with the funds coming from a lot of local fundraising.
The Drill Hall was going to serve the people of Saddleworth for around 75 years, it fell out of use for the territorial’s in the 1960s and was later converted into use as the Village Manor Restaurant. 
However this closed and the building was sadly demolished in the 1990s to make way for flats.
As I said at the start of the article B-P is nowadays better known for his starting of the Scout group and we would love to hear from you at the Museum if you have any history or old artefacts relating to the Scout movement in Saddleworth.
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