The Orkney Image Library
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This photo had a pencil note on it saying Longhope so hopefully that is correct!
View Large VersionPicture added on 14 November 2008
Good to see a photo of the Y.M.C.A. Longhope in it's prime.
Added by Beryl Simpson on 14 November 2008
This is indeed the hall in Longhope and it is still refered to as the YM, built during the 1914-18 war as a canteen for young men stationed on the island.
During this war Longhope was the headquarters of the navy and it was not until later that Lyness became the main base.
The YM was and still is built of wood- it's hard to believe the heavest timber used in its consruction was only three by two inch!
The gable end on its west end is built in a bow and this was taken from a design used in Iceland for such wooden buildings and is a false end built outside the normal gable.
This hall was rebuilt in 2000 as it was getting well past its best and now has much heaver wood and steel to give it much more strength, but it stood for all that time on a very light clever use of timber.
I think the builder was Cowesons of Glasgow who went on to erect hundreds of huts in Orkney in the 1939-45 war.
During this war Longhope was the headquarters of the navy and it was not until later that Lyness became the main base.
The YM was and still is built of wood- it's hard to believe the heavest timber used in its consruction was only three by two inch!
The gable end on its west end is built in a bow and this was taken from a design used in Iceland for such wooden buildings and is a false end built outside the normal gable.
This hall was rebuilt in 2000 as it was getting well past its best and now has much heaver wood and steel to give it much more strength, but it stood for all that time on a very light clever use of timber.
I think the builder was Cowesons of Glasgow who went on to erect hundreds of huts in Orkney in the 1939-45 war.
Added by John Budge on 15 November 2008
I'm am trying to find info re where on Orkney my father was stationed sometime between 1939-45 serving with he Royal Pioneers and indeed when. I have a album he filled with photos and post cards he collected during those years of every town and city he visited in his army days,he went with Invasion forces to Fance in 1944. Any help would be most appreciated as we are visiting the Orkneys n June 2016 and would love to see things he may have seen, thanking you Helen
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Added by Helen Norbury on 01 February 2016
Hoy and Walls
