Story Category: Early Days (34 posts)

Viv Wilson | 30th September 1990 | Life at The Hall

GARDENERS’ WORLD AT HOAR CROSS: In it’s heyday Hoar Cross Hall had around 28 people employed to keep the 20 acres of grounds tidy and weed free. In Victorian England the most common of all male servants was the gardener. At Hoar Cross the head gardener had numerous under-gardeners known affectionately as ‘digging slaves’! They were responsible for producing fruit, vegetables and growing luxury items in and out of season, much of it under glass. Adjacent to the house was the carp pool and greenhouse area along with a palm house; next to these was a walled kitchen garden. This supplied the house with all its fruit, vegetables and herbs. The palm house produced palms and pot plants along with flowers for the house; these would be brought across to decorate the main rooms when an important function was on. The ‘bothy’ house was in one corner of the kitchen garden. (A bothy is a simple dwelling on an estate, usually used for gardeners and other workmen). Here lived the ‘bothy boys’ who were young under-gardeners. Their job was simply to sweep the pathways all day and keep the leaves at bay! There were two elderly chaps, Mr Knight and Mr Dukes, who were solely responsible for the south garden – however, their task was complicated by the fact that they couldn’t get on with one another! Grass was cut by a horse drawn mower, a task carried out by the chauffeur of all people! We heard that back in the early days the head gardener was pushed around in a wheelchair when he was older inspecting the lawns – apparently if he saw a weed amongst the grass blades he would tell one of the gardeners to pluck it out straightaway! Emily Meynell Ingram employed a Mr Rowley especially to carry out her plans of planting the yew hedges, of which there were many. At each side of the garden was a yew tree walk which ran down to the ha-ha wall at the bottom. Across the bottom of the gardens were smaller square gardens (including the stepping st...

Viv Wilson | 07th October 1988 | Life at The Hall

THE WAR YEARS AND BEYOND: During the Second World War, life in country houses changed dramatically. It was no different at Hoar Cross. The borders on the main lawns were turfed over to reduce maintenance and vegetables were grown in areas formerly restricted to flowers. Evacuees from Birmingham came to stay for the duration of the war and they lived in the basement, as it was considered to be the safest place. I imagine that they must have been in the care of the servants as they were living amongst them but it must also have been quite exciting for them to move from a bombed out city to the relative safety of the countryside, although they must have missed their parents of course. Many children in those days never left the cities and towns where they lived and often didn’t know what a cow looked like in real life! To see all the lawns and woods at the Hall must have been incredible for them although I’m not sure if they were allowed to wander around the grounds. Two of these youngsters returned to the Hall in the mid-1980s and spoke to my mum about the kindness they received from the family. They also told her about the ‘secret airfield’ hidden away in a copse behind the ha-ha wall. Apparently aircraft were kept here in readiness for action, it being a Satellite Landing Ground (SLG) site serving Fradley aerodrome, near Lichfield. The Hall was also offered as an Auxiliary Red Cross Hospital during the war but nothing came of this, probably owing to the lack of mains water. However, during the First World War, the Meynell home in London was offered to the War Office and the Red Cross and became a Military Hospital for officers, being used by Francis Meynell himself who was wounded in action. One feature at the Hall was the daily barometric readings; these had been taken since 1880 up until the Second World War, when readings ceased. The Clerk of Works at Hoar Cross, namely one F W Lycett, had kept a meticulous Meteorological Register in...

Viv Wilson | 18th September 1985 | Life at The Hall

THE KITCHEN MAID’S STORY: If you were young, free and single – oh, and very well-to-do – the 1920s were the decade to be a part of. The upper classes had lots of time on their hands and enjoyed post-First World War delights such as the theatre and jazz clubs. Not so for the lower classes, in particular a young girl who was to become the kitchen maid at Hoar Cross Hall in the 1920s. The depression after the First World War brought stark poverty to her home and many like her. Her name was Jean Rennie, and she was extremely intelligent having won a scholarship to Glasgow University to study French and music. However, the £5 bursary she got was taken by her father and used to buy whiskey in his local pub. Her hopes of a career in music were dashed and she needed to find employment. Jean was now known as Jenny and had many jobs as a servant, including one in a castle in the Highlands! She was, in her own words, a good housemaid but never a good servant. With memories of hungry children fresh in her mind she could never get used to the wanton waste of food left on plates. Her mistresses were always untidy with stockings, shoes and underwear “flung everywhere” and powder “spilt lavishly” – this always rankled with her and she never really got used to the ways of the aristocracy. She gradually travelled down the country and eventually found a job in London. Although she was still a scullery maid, she worked under a skilled chef who taught her much and she hoped for a career as a cook. Her employers were good and so were the wages. When she got the job at the Hall she could not only read a menu (in customary French) but also write one and prepare many of the dishes herself. Lady Dorothy Meynell was very impressed with her and as her husband, Hugo Meynell was about to take a small shooting party to their Laughton estate, she asked Jenny to go with them to do the cooking. Jenny recalled how thrilled she was to ride alongside the chauffeu...

Viv Wilson | 10th September 1985 | Life at The Hall

THE SCHOOLROOM MAID’S STORY: For the first 75 years of the Hall’s history about 50 servants were employed by the Meynell family in the house and grounds. Among these was a young girl of fifteen who started work in 1920 as a Schoolroom Maid. Her name was Miss Inez Sophia Large and she had connections to Hoar Cross through her grand-parents, William and Mary Tooth, who lived in the village where William was the blacksmith; his smithy was just along from the Meynell public house. He had worked on the ironwork of the Hall during its construction in the 1860s. Inez’s aunt, Constance Madeley, was the wife of the landlord at the Buffalo Inn, in nearby Newborough, and it was through her that she secured the job at the Hall. Inez’s parents were themselves in service; her mother had been a lady’s maid and her father was a butler for the Spanish Ambassador in London – from which source Inez assumes her Christian name originated. There was little choice but to go into service in those days (her sister, Beatrice, was also a nursery maid with the Earl and Countess of Lichfield), and she was engaged on a salary of £18 per annum. Her mother made her uniform, which comprised of a morning dress and an afternoon dress, and Lady Dorothy Meynell supplied her cap. She was the personal maid to Lady Dorothy’s eldest daughter, Dorothy, who was just four years younger than Inez. She also looked after Dorothy’s younger sister, Rachael. The schoolroom at this time was situated just off the main Entrance Hall, and immediately below the nursery. Inez worked under the supervision of Mrs Catt, the housekeeper, Miss Rhodes, the lady’s maid, and the head housemaid, Rose. Her day began at 6am every day and she was so afraid of oversleeping that she kept an alarm clock under her pillow! The first job of the day was always to clean the grate and get the fires lit, then sweep and dust the schoolroom, lay the table for breakfast, call the governess, Miss Chromy, with...

Viv Wilson | 03rd September 1985 | Life at The Hall

MOVING ON - And so we come to the end of my story. My dad and Gavin moved out to live in Burton and my mum carried on running Mediaeval Banquets for a few more years. She and the singer eventually got together much to my dad’s chagrin. He spent a lot more time at the Hall helping my mum run the banquets; however, Piers didn’t really get on with him. When he was about 14 years old my dad received a phone call from Piers – he had run away from home and was ringing from the phone box by the Meynell Arms car park! He told my dad that he was hiding behind a bush and could he come and get him. Of course, my dad was only too happy to fetch him and get him away from my mum and the singer and he set off to find him hiding, as he had said, behind a bush in the darkened car park. Piers continued to live with my dad and he joined in with the go karting along with Gavin and also got very involved with BMX stunts, even having a half pipe in their yard to practice on! After a few years my dad moved to a much bigger house in Burton which had been an old doctors’ surgery that Kev and his family had gone to when Kev was young! He continued to buy and sell antiques and his interest in motor racing never waned; he often went to local races with his friends. Gavin eventually moved out to live near Norwich with his girlfriend Helen, and they married in 1991. He joined a motor racing team over there and went on to have a very successful career in racing, eventually running his own GP2 motor racing team, iSport International, who became world champions. He also takes amazing photographs of wild animals and birds for a hobby – check out his photography website Piers stayed with my dad and used the large workshops at the new house for renovating cars and selling them, following in my dad’s footsteps, as amongst other things, this is what he had done many years ago when we were all very young. He also carried on with his biking and even now follows the trails at Mor...

Viv Wilson | 28th October 1980 | Life at The Hall

MOVING OUT: And so the day arrived a month or so after our wedding when my dad had to leave the Hall. Ten years after moving in he was now moving out, leaving his dream home for my mum to live in alone. Gavin moved with him and Piers was away at school most of the time. It was a mammoth task as he had so much stuff to move, especially from the basement. He had some heavy machinery too that he’d brought with him from his alabaster days, including a band saw which we used to saw up logs for the huge fireplaces in the main rooms. He had bought a house in nearby Burton on Trent which had some outbuildings for a workshop and there he moved to start afresh. He carried on buying and selling antiques and often went to antiques fairs and sale rooms with his friends. He also continued with the go-karting with Gavin and this kept them busy at weekends. However, the whole experience had left him very bitter and he would constantly talk about it whenever we went round to see him, making visits fraught with tension! However, we carried on with our lives as newly weds and bought a house in a nearby village. It was completely empty and needed an oven and washing machine amongst other things. My dad was keen to help and offered to buy anything he saw at a sale room as he knew he could get them cheap; and that was how we ended up with a 1950s style twin tub washing machine! Well, it matched the age of the house I suppose! Many a week whilst washing, I cursed my dad for buying it as it always broke down and flooded the kitchen – eventually we threw it out! Another time we went to an auction at a large farm house that was quite local to us and because of the interesting lots its had, quite a few of our wealthy friends were there too. My dad was also there and the next thing he came rushing up to us and said he’d bought an oven for our new house. He couldn’t wait to tell us that it had only cost him £1. Even in those days £1 was ridiculously cheap, especi...

Viv Wilson | 02nd August 1980 | Life at The Hall

HERE COMES THE BRIDE (Part 2) And so our wedding day arrived bright and clear, all thoughts of solicitors, legals, fights and arrests behind us! Myself and my bridesmaids went to get our hair done in the morning and Kev slapped a piece of steak on his jaw to bring the swelling down after the rather unfortunate fight at his stag do. Fortunately, the bruise didn’t show up too much on the photos! Gavin drove my dad’s Mercedes Benz car all the way down the drive and back up the road to the church – this was one of the drawbacks of having a church in your grounds; you don’t get to drive all through the town with everyone looking at you! Never mind, a small crowd of locals were gathered around the gate to the church and we got out, had a few photos taken and walked down the aisle to ‘Here comes the bride’. However, as Kev had not attended the rehearsal (remember, he was in someone’s shower!), he didn’t have a clue what was going on or where to stand or anything! When we came to say our vows, the vicar got his name wrong and so I nearly married a ‘Derrick’. There was much whispering at the front as we told him the correct name. Again, when I put my ring on the Bible, the vicar thought it was two rings as I had a Russian wedding ring with three bands. He started to say ‘with these rings……’ and once again, there was much whispering at the front as we explained that it was only one ring! And then, just as we were on our knees to receive the blessing, Chris Meek (my dad’s old racing driver) walked in with a beautiful model on his arm. She was wearing a short cheesecloth dress and with the sun behind her it was completely see through! Anyone who remembers the Lady Di photo will know what I mean! We heard a sharp intake of breath as the whole congregation turned to face the door – talk about upstaging the bride! Finally, the ceremony was over and I was married to Kev (not Derrick) and as we walked out into the sunlight I felt ...

Viv Wilson | 02nd August 1980 | Life at The Hall

HERE COMES THE BRIDE (Part 1) Our wedding preparations were going quite well. As we knew lots of musicians it wasn’t hard to find a local band and a DJ to do the disco. A friend of my dad’s offered to do the catering and the bar was set up with plenty of kegs from the local brewery in Burton on Trent. I had two bridesmaids and we all went to Birmingham one day to choose our dresses and shoes – it was all kept very simple really as I had no help or advice from my mum as most brides do. Kev’s parents had eloped after the war and got married in a register office with two witnesses dragged off the street, so they had no idea what you did to plan a wedding! I managed to find a church near to Kev’s house and sorted out the reading of the banns. Then we went to the vicarage across the road from my house and booked the date. The vicar told us in no uncertain terms that he would expect us to be there when the banns were read. However, as we never got up before lunch on a Sunday, try as we might, we never actually managed to hear our own banns being read! It was almost as bad at the wedding rehearsal. I went to the church with my dad and the two bridesmaids but Kev never managed to get there as he was fitting a shower for someone! I don’t think the vicar was very impressed with us! The nearer it got to our wedding date the more we worried about my mum turning up. It wasn’t that I didn’t want her there but that my dad told us we couldn’t possibly have her there as he would ‘see red’ and a row would ensue. We really didn’t want a huge argument on our wedding day but knowing my dad’s temper we weren’t sure that he would be able to control himself so he offered to see his solicitor to see if he had any suggestions. The solicitor suggested that we take out an injunction to stop my mum attending the wedding! Talk about extremes. It seemed to us that it was all getting out of hand – why couldn’t they just sit on each side of the c...

Viv Wilson | 07th July 1980 | Life at The Hall

THE TAX MAN COMETH - The court case was finally over and my dad had six months to leave the house. In the meantime my mum had to find the funds to buy him out and he had to find another house to live in. He also had an awful lot of stuff to move too! He eventually found a house in nearby Burton on Trent but as it was obviously a lot smaller he had to get rid of a lot of his possessions and one of the first things to go was his Lotus Elite. He advertised it in the local paper but instead of getting a phone call from a likely buyer, the first call was from the local tax office. Back in those days they used to check advertisements in the newspapers and they had spotted this expensive car for sale and thought they would check it out. They actually thought it was my mum’s car and it transpired that they were keeping an eye on her. They didn’t know that my parents were getting a divorce so when they spoke to my dad he quickly informed them of that fact and told them that this was why he was selling his car. He also told them that she was making loads of money from the banquets; money which he had no access to. This then led to a few meetings between the tax man and my dad. Of course, my dad was in his element thinking of more ways to get his revenge on my mum! What better way than to shop her to the tax people. He knew that she didn’t tell them exactly how many guests came to the banquets each week. It was usually around 200-240 but I think she had been telling them 150. She always did the book-keeping at home and I don’t think her figures were always ‘accurate’ – well, who likes paying tax? My dad was happy to tell them that my mum always did the book-keeping as he was useless at that sort of thing and so he feigned ignorance! I have always kept a diary and during the time of the banquets I used to note down the number of each one and how many people came along to it. When I told this to my dad he jumped up and down in glee and quickl...

Viv Wilson | 30th July 1979 | Life at The Hall

SEE YOU IN COURT - The saga of my parents’ split continued as we grew up in our stately home, although their behaviour was anything but stately for most of the time! Seven years of arguing and fighting were about to come to an end and the solicitors had finally agreed on a date to go to court. We carried on helping my dad to run the Hall and he still went to his boat in Caernarfon at weekends to get away from the house but we were all getting weary of it now. We were young adults and wanting to get on with our own lives. After five years together we were hoping to get married at some point so we were glad that it was finally going to be sorted out one way or another. Gavin was now involved with a band who regularly supported The Jam so he was often travelling around the country with them. Piers had been sent to a local boarding school so we saw even less of him than before. My mum continued to live in the West Wing Apartment and was now seeing the singer who sang at the banquets. My dad sat on his own most nights with only the parrot for company. When he found out about the singer it started a fresh load of outbursts from him as he now felt that the pair of them were trying to take his house and business off him! He constantly ranted on about it and often threatened to shoot the singer with his gun – I don’t think he would have done but then again, with his temper, who knows! This latest twist in the story did nothing for my dad’s sanity and my mum was still hoping to have him committed and kept making appointments for him with the psychiatrist. Once again, the Police were called every week informing them of the threats on the singer’s life and they eventually took my dad’s gun licence off him just in case anything did happen! We tried to keep out of the way as much as possible and stayed in Burton all week, where we worked, and came home at weekends where we would meet up with our friends and party in the apartments out of sight and sound...

Viv Wilson | 25th July 1977 | Life at The Hall

RACE TRACK ‘AFTER PARTIES’ Because my dad used to be a racing driver he was often invited to parties and open days at various racing circuits. He naturally knew lots of racing people and on this particular occasion he was invited to an Open Day at Donington Park. Tom Wheatcroft, a local entrepreneur, had bought Donington Park in the 1970s as he owned the largest collection of Grand Prix cars in the world at that time. In 1973 he opened a museum there to house them all and called it the Donington Grand Prix Exhibition. Donington became the favoured home of the British round of the MotoGP motorcycling championships but he was really hoping to bring Formula 1 racing back to the track and a bid was put in in 2007. Unfortunately the 2008 global crash put a stop to this as they lost financial backing and the bid went to Silverstone who now host the Grand Prix every year. However, in 1977 he re-opened the track for cars and this was the Open Day that we all went along to. There were lots of different races with old cars as well as new. My dad used to race his motor bike there before the war and he was invited to join in with the historic bike racing – he jumped at the chance of riding a bike again and did really well, at the age of 61! Kev and I went along with my brothers and we all got dressed up in our Sunday best, Kev wearing a jacket and me in a large floppy hat – we looked as if we were going to a wedding not a race meeting! But dad assured us that we needed to look the part as there was a big party afterwards in a marquee with all the top racing people in attendance – ‘racing royalty’ we called them. People like Bob Gerrard, who was one of the top racing drivers of the post war era – he and his wife were always very expensively dressed and hosted one of the marquee parties. There was also a VIP marquee which we managed to sneak into when no-one was looking. After ordering our drinks at the bar, Kev asked how much they were and was told...

Viv Wilson | 16th July 1976 | Life at The Hall

NEW YEAR JINKS The New Year’s Eve Balls were usually the highlight of the year. After twelve months of hard work, especially running the Mediaeval Banquets twice a week through the winter, we were always ready to see out the year in style with a big new year party. In those days it was always black tie for the men and long dresses for the ladies – usually around 500 people bought tickets for an evening of entertainment with a dance band, disco and a meal. At midnight a man dressed in traditional Scottish regalia, including a kilt, would pipe in the new year with his bagpipes. Down the Long Gallery he would slowly walk and into the Ballroom with his pipes droning on. When midnight arrived a net full of balloons was dropped onto all the guests from the ceiling, out came the party poppers and hats and everyone joined hands to sing ‘Auld Lang Syne’. Once all the traditional stuff was done the band started up again and we all did the Hokey Cokey, the Conga and other silly dances that only happen on New Year’s Eve! It was always great fun and I loved to dress up in my long dress. After my parents split up my dad continued to run the New Year’s Eve Balls and I would help, as I had before, with the administration; posting out tickets and doing a bit of book-keeping. He needed all the help he could get now as he was always in a bit of a state over the divorce proceedings. The week before the ball was spent moving furniture about and cleaning the house up after all the banquet tables and benches were removed. We usually used some of the banquet tables for people to sit at but this particular year my mum had stored them all away in the basement and put a lock on the door – these were her property now! This left my dad in a bit of a quandary about what to do for tables and after a lot of ranting he decided that he would have to hire some. As my dad was well known for being ‘careful’ with his money, he didn’t want to spend too much and hired th...

Viv Wilson | 10th July 1976 | Life at The Hall

WHODUNIT IN THE LIBRARY? When we first moved to the Hall. growing up in a stately home seemed an idyllic way to live – and lots of fun if you’re a child. This rambling old house full of empty rooms and secret doors, wild gardens and woods to explore, was in some ways a dream come true for our family, certainly for my dad. But as we turned from children to teenagers the isolation and lack of public transport was frustrating. Coupled with this was my parents fighting and subsequent split, living at each end of the house and battling for the house and business through their solicitors. The effect this had on me, as the eldest child who perhaps saw more of it than my brothers, was that I started to have awful pains/cramps in my stomach. Whenever Kev and I were out I would often double up in agony and once I was in such pain in a local bar that the landlord rang for an ambulance and I was whisked off to hospital with suspected appendicitis. After a full examination I was told there was nothing wrong but that it was probably my nerves affecting me. After a visit to my GP he prescribed Valium tablets (now known as Diazepam) which was a drug to relax you when you felt under stress. Both my parents were already on this medication and we would often borrow each other’s tablets if one of us ran out! I now realise what a ridiculous situation this was – Valium was a powerful drug to be taken for 2-3 months but back in the 70s I was freely given it (aged 17) and was not monitored at all by the GP. I took it for well over a year and mixed it with alcohol totally oblivious to the effects it might have on me – one of them being that I frequently had horrendous hallucinations. My dad was already visiting a psychiatrist each week and my mum took me to see one too! Our family really was falling apart at the seams! However, the feud went on and my dad was still selling items from the house unbeknown to my mum. He had a beautiful wooden musical box which played...

Viv Wilson | 01st July 1976 | Life at The Hall

THE GRAVEYARD SHIFT...... Life carried on at the Hall as best it could in difficult circumstances. My dad continued to go to arms fairs to buy and sell antiques and we also went to a mediaeval banquet in Cheshire one night, although it wasn’t anywhere near as good as ours! Once or twice we took my dad out with our friends to Derby, where he originated from, and that seemed to cheer him up. But he really needed to get away from the house for longer periods of time and when he saw a boat advertised for sale at Caernarvon he jumped at the chance and bought it. It was an ex lifeboat called The Benbow so quite sturdy, although in need of a lick of paint and a bit of TLC. The town of Caernarvon is in Wales and is host to a huge castle where the Prince of Wales (Prince Charles) had his investiture in 1969. The Benbow was moored by the harbour and the town was full of quaint, narrow streets which we loved to explore. Once he had bought the boat he would go away at weekends and usually took Gavin or Piers along with him. My mum jumped at the chance of making me go as well so she could keep me away from Kev, but after a couple of times on my own Kev decided to come along too, and was able to help fix the electrics on the boat amongst other things. When my dad went away at weekends during the summer months Kev and I would open the house to the public. As well as a bad atmosphere between my parents there was also a bad atmosphere between me and my mum and mum and Kev, so we were all trying to avoid each other! My mum had taken over the West Wing apartment when the tenants left, leaving my dad with one less rent. She was also putting Yale locks on all the rooms that she used in the house as well as any storage rooms used for the banquets. This infuriated my dad who obviously didn’t have access to them once the locks went on. One of these rooms was the cupboard off the Entrance Hall which held the meter boxes, so we now had no access to the electrics if anything...

Viv Wilson | 25th June 1976 | Life at The Hall

SUITS YOU SIR! When we moved to the Hall in 1970 the organ in the private chapel wasn’t working as the house had been empty for 20 years. It was such a shame as it had been designed by Bodley, the famous organ maker of the 19th century. The chapel itself had been added about 25 years after the house was built at the staggering cost of just under £1000! When one of the visitors to the house said he could fix the organ, my dad readily agreed. This chap really loved organs and volunteered his services free of charge just for the love of mending this musical work of art; my dad was over the moon! Alas, after removing all the pipes and laying them out in the basement, he found that he couldn’t carry on with the renovations and we never saw him again! When Kev saw the organ in pieces he offered to try and fix it and we spent many an hour in the chapel and basement trying to work out which pipe went where and how to make it play again. But it was quite complicated and it was an ongoing project for some time – still, it kept us busy! The divorce was getting quite bad by now and I had to accompany my dad to the solicitors on more than one occasion, mainly for moral support but also to back up what was happening in the house between my parents as I witnessed quite a lot of arguments and fights. The solicitor explained to my dad that his antique collection would be classed as ‘chattels’ in the marriage and my mum would be entitled to half of it. My dad went berserk as usual and vowed that she wouldn’t have any of his antiques as they were his means of earning money and not part of the domestic furniture. However, as he was classed as self employed, his collection was deemed part of the family belongings. The Mediaeval Banquets business was now in my mum’s name as a limited company and she ran them herself, separate from my dad. My dad still got the rent money from the apartments and the takings from the house when it was open to the public, and of ...

Viv Wilson | 17th June 1976 | Life at The Hall

“HE’S BEHIND YOU!” During the 1970s the Hall was used from time to time for local community activities and one such event was the production in 1978 of a traditional pantomime, ‘Midnight and a Journey back to Happiness’. It was written by local people, Robert Leighton from Yoxall and the Hon. Alexandra Meynell, daughter-in-law of Mrs Jean Meynell whom we had purchased the Hall from. The words and music were written by local songwriter, David Matthews, who had written songs for quite a few pop artists during the 1960s, his most famous being Matt Munro’s ‘We’re gonna change the world’. So off to a good start there! For those of you who don’t reside in the UK and have no idea what a pantomime is, it is a musical play with slapstick comedy based on a children’s nursery story or fairy tale, usually produced at Christmas. It’s mainly for children but adults tend to love them too as there is always a lot of audience participation, especially when the villain walks on and everyone boos and hisses or shouts “He’s behind you!” The aim was to involve as many people as possible, particularly the youngsters, and adults and children from around the area of Hoar Cross were invited to participate in the event, forming a group known as ‘The Overdraft Players’! About 80 people took part altogether including three ‘retired’ semi-professionals. A huge, three-tiered, sectional wooden stage was built for the venture and sited in the Ballroom. Local people got involved with set design and costumes; another lady arranged and produced the ballet routines. Gavin and Piers were involved of course but Gavin broke his arm a couple of weeks before the show started so ended up with the minor but important role of working the hands of the large clock that stood to one side of the stage! I felt really sorry for him as he had to stand behind the clock and no-one could see him – however, the clock was a major part of the story which involved the le...

Viv Wilson | 11th June 1976 | Life at The Hall

COMING OF AGE: My year at college had come to an end and I was now a fully fledged secretary. Now to find a job! It didn’t take too long as there was plenty of employment around in those days and I was soon offered a position with a small engineering firm in Burton. As I didn’t drive there was still the problem of me getting to work and dad managed to talk the residents of the apartments into taking me, as they were going to Burton every day as well, and it would save him coming out twice a day! Kev and the band were getting a few gigs around the area and after singing with them for a little while I gave it up and let a more professional singer take over – I needed to work on my confidence first! We still went to the 76 Club though to see live music – it was the start of the punk era and we saw the Sex Pistols there when they were just starting out – I have to say they didn’t get a very good reception as they couldn’t even start the first song properly and were actually booed off stage which was a first for that club. Their ‘punk’ behaviour almost started a riot in what was normally a peaceful hippy venue! My mum still wasn’t convinced that Kev was the right person for me and was becoming quite determined to split us up. She tried to talk me into giving Kev up for six months - but we didn’t want to be parted. When he walked 7 miles from Burton to see me my mum asked him to dig a border (our borders were about 30 feet long!) as a way of proving himself. He did it too, bless him! We were very determined to stay together but my mum started to plan ways to prevent this – one of her schemes (we discovered) was to suggest to the local Police that Kev’s band were all doing drugs which led to the drug squad regularly following us. It was quite comical as we would be walking down the street and notice a car kerb crawling behind us; we would purposely stop at every shop and stare in the window for a few minutes so that they had to keep...

Viv Wilson | 03rd June 1976 | Life at The Hall

LIKE FATHER, LIKE SONS As mentioned before my dad used to be a racing driver during the 1950s and ran his own team in the 1960s, travelling all over Europe in his trusty Volkswagon van with his two mechanics and driver. He didn’t have big sponsorship money behind him and most of it was done on a shoestring but he came back with lots of funny stories of their van breaking down or some rural ‘hotel’ that they had stayed in. From each country that he visited he always brought me back a doll dressed in the traditional costume of that country. There was quite a collection and I still have them; I used to put them on display in the Library when our house was open to the public. Because of this background in motor racing, Gavin wanted to start kart racing when he was about 14 and kept pestering my dad to get him a kart. Dad promised that he would take him to the races but said he didn’t have time to do the preparations and so Gavin had to learn the hard way how to do it! He made lots of mistakes early on, including the engine nearly falling off in one race, but he got there in the end! As he got better he moved into the seniors when he was 16 and started to win trophies – now he was getting serious! He raced at a place called Chasewater near Lichfield and finished second twice in the regional championships, regularly winning races against over 40 other drivers. The Welsh Championships found him coming in 5th. He also did some British championship races against 160 other drivers around the country, finishing in the top 30 but as he never had new tyres like most of the top drivers, it stopped him moving all the way up. The kart racing created a new interest for my dad and he was glad to get out of the house at weekends since splitting up with my mum. The atmosphere at home was always tense and if they accidentally bumped into each other in a corridor somewhere it would usually spark an argument. Kev and I would keep the house open to the public whil...

Viv Wilson | 01st June 1976 | Life at The Hall

PARTY ON! One of the great things about living in a stately home is that you can have a wild party with the loudest of music – and no-one will hear it! I was now going out with Kev, whom I had met at college. Mum was a bit disappointed that my sensible boyfriend and I had parted company after 18 months of an on/off relationship but she begrudgingly accepted Kev into the fold and eventually met all the other members of the band. I think she wanted to put her mind at rest that they were a bunch of nice lads and not a drug crazed rock band eating bats! Which of course they were! No – I’m only kidding! After the awful split up at Christmas my parents were now living one at each end of the house – what a carry on – some nights were spent with my mum and other nights with my dad as we tried to spread our affections and loyalties between them. But sometimes it was hard and I was glad to leave the oppressive atmosphere at home and stayed out after college as much as possible, spending time with Kev and the band. Of course we all still liked to party like most young people and we often held parties in the West Wing apartment where we had got to know the latest residents there. A large crowd of people would meet up at the Meynell, the local pub in the village, and then we would all troop up to the Hall at closing time and sneak into the west wing via the basement door, which was the way in for the people who lived in the apartments. Up the spiral staircase we would all go and eventually we got to our destination, trying to beat the time switches which kept the lights on until we got there. We were always terrified that the lights would ‘time out’ before we got to the next one along the basement passageway and everyone would be making ghostly sounds and chasing each other into dark rooms off the main route. Good job no-one could hear us really! As everyone had heard about the ghost stories at the Hall, occasionally at these parties we would make an o...

Viv Wilson | 01st February 1975 | Life at The Hall

BECOMING A ROCK CHICK: My schooldays were coming to an end now and I absolutely couldn’t wait to leave. The school itself was an old Victorian grammar school which still had wooden desks with inkwells in them! Even the teachers wore their mortar boards and gowns, not like the ones at Eton and Harrow – mine were more like the ones in the Beano! However, in the last two years there I had made a few good friends and we would go into Uttoxeter every lunch time to meet up with a group of guys that worked at the local JCB firm. They were all into motor bikes and one of the first films I watched was ‘Easy Rider’. They also went to a lot of concerts to see live music, something which was totally new to me – I’d only seen dance bands at the New Year’s Eve Balls (yawn), even though I loved music. They opened my eyes (and ears) to a new type of music and always bought me a ticket for the next concert they went to but my mum would always say ‘No’, much to my disgust! Eventually I started dating one of the lads who was actually 21 so a bit older than my 16 years but as he was quite sensible my mother approved of him and eventually let me go to concerts with him. Over the space of a few months we saw Jack the Lad, Dr Feelgood and The Who. The Who were incredible and Keith Moon even smashed his drum kit up as their grand finale! We also went to this really cool place called The Highwayman. Up to this point my only socialising was at the banquets with my parents watching my every move – now I could get out and away from them as my boyfriend had a car! I loved the dark, smoky atmosphere of this place with its loud rock music – we would go there in a convoy of minis and motor bikes, driving fast through the lanes. With places like this to go to, life could only get better – couldn’t it? In September I started college in Burton-on-Trent – another big change for me. It was nice to be in an environment where I was treated a bit more like ...

Viv Wilson | 01st November 1974 | Life at The Hall

HYSTERICAL PRODUCTIONS: By the end of 1974 we had done about 40 banquets and they were still going strong. Most of the original cast were still with us but we were on our second king now and also doing our own catering and bar, whereas when we first started, we had got a catering firm in to do it all. Every weekend over 200 people came to sample our Noble Brose, Roast Lambe and Saracen’s Delight and sing along to ‘I’m Henry VIII I am’ whilst drinking beer, wine and mead. But it was a very adult environment for 15 year old girls to work in; a few of my school friends also worked at the banquets as wenches and we were constantly being chatted up by men who bought us drinks all evening. The cast were all married men but that didn’t seem to bother them and one or two of my friends were always sneaking off with one or the other of them. But despite the seventies shinanigans the nights were always a good laugh and there were lots of funny things that happened. Myra (the fire-eater’s wife) and I always did the cloakroom and one time this lady took her coat off and as she did so her halter neck top came undone and she stood there in her bra and skirt for all to see! Hoar Cross Hall Banquet Menu 1974 Once the banquets started we would join in with the singing, even standing behind the main act and pretending to be the backing group. Another member of the cast would wear a sombrero and shake maracas to a Latin song while we threw petals all over him – don’t ask me why! My dad didn’t seem to mind me doing all this but when my mum started singing along and dancing about with some of the guests, he wasn’t too happy and one time started shouting at her in front of everyone, which was a bit embarrassing! The next day, when cleaning up, we would find all sorts of things which people had left behind: scarves, perfume, a £1 note, cigarettes and even a set of false teeth left on the mantelpiece! I had found a little hidey hole in the wooden panel...

Viv Wilson | 03rd June 1973 | Life at The Hall

RAGS TO RICHES: My parents were married in Derby in July 1952. Mum was 19 and dad was 36 so quite a bit older. They both lived in Derby and were very arty; my dad went to the Derby Sketching Club in his free time and my mum attended art college. I’m not sure where they met but it was either at something art related or at a dance, as was usual in those days. My dad was a sculptor by trade; I think his interest was sparked by seeing all the beautiful alabaster in Italian churches during the war. After the war he set up his own business making alabaster lamps, bowls and candlesticks among other things (see header picture). He would go to the alabaster mines at Chellaston near Derby and bring back huge slabs which were then cut down to smaller sizes at his works in Crosby Street. He also owned a car as well as his own business so was quite the catch for my mum! However, for someone from his background this was something of an achievement, having been born illegitimate into a working class family during the First World War. Even his birth is a story in itself as his mother worked at a nearby stately home as a servant and fell for the son of the house. My mum told me all about it years later – how they had fallen in love and were ‘walking out’ together even though it was forbidden in those days for the aristocracy to mix with the servants. However, the son caught TB and sadly died so my grandmother had to bring my dad up alone with help from her own parents without getting married (this is where my dad gets his double-barrel surname from). When my dad was about 4 years old my grandmother married a sailor and they had a little girl, my Aunty Dorothy. He told me how his grandparents brought him up but how poor they were and because of this they had to go to the market at the end of the day to get food and vegetables at give-a-way prices. This was 1920s Britain and many families lived like this. I always think how strange it was that he ended up in a ...

Viv Wilson | 01st June 1973 | Life at The Hall

SKOOLS OUT FOR SUMMER! When Hugo and Emily Meynell built the Hall it included a whole estate with it, namely kitchen gardens, greenhouses, stables, a farm and cottages. Old Hall (their original home) was also on the estate and was accessed via a private road, which ran from the main road. By the time the seventies came along the stable block and Old Hall were private houses and another part of Old Hall had been made into a children’s home. Emily Meynell had started this home in the Victorian days, calling it ‘The Home of the Good Shepherd’ but it was for boys only at that time. When we were there it was a mixed home and run by a husband and wife couple. They used to have fetes there in the summer and we would sometimes play there as they had lots of climbing frames and slides. At one of the fetes I was standing next to a crockery smashing stall and a piece of crockery cut my head open causing a huge gash. I ran all the way home screaming and crying with blood pouring down my face – no-one could stop me – and was taken to the nearby hospital to have it stitched up. I still have a huge scar from that cut but luckily it’s on my hair line so no-one can see it! The private road also joined up to our woods near the driveway and this is the road I walked along every day, up to the main road, to catch the bus to school. It was about half a mile but I hated walking through the woods, especially in the winter when the mornings were darker. I was growing up now and keeping different secrets from my parents than the previous escapades with Gavin and Piers; I had started smoking! Going into Uttoxeter every day meant I could buy cigarettes for 30p a pack and smoke them on the way home. I often went up to our attic room to do my homework and write stories but also to have a crafty fag (cigarette for those in the US!). I had also started to help myself to the odd bottle of mead from the banquet stock and kept it hidden in the attic – all typical teenage ...

Viv Wilson | 20th March 1973 | Life at The Hall

MORE TEA VICAR? During the long summer holidays it was easy to get bored. As there was no public transport from Hoar Cross and no children living nearby, we three children had to make our own entertainment and we were always having adventures and getting up to mischief – a bit like the Famous Five, but without a dog! We would roam around the village or explore the basement. My dad was a hoarder and had kept all sorts of stuff over the years including gas masks and field phones from World War 2. The old Servants Hall was now my dad’s workshop and he spent a lot of time down there restoring antiques to sell. He had one of the field phones in his workshop and the other one was in our kitchen at the opposite end of the house. To operate them you would wind a handle on the side and a bell would ring on the phone at the other end. This was how my parents communicated especially when my mum wanted to tell my dad the dinner was ready! But we also had fun playing with them too and would ring each other up or call my mum and pretend we were someone else – she would go along with the pretence of course until we owned up! In the grounds was The Church of the Holy Angels. Mrs Meynell Ingram commissioned Bodley to commence work on the church in 1872 in memory of her husband who had died the previous year. It was generally regarded as one of the finest Victorian churches in the country and was known locally as the “Cathedral of the Midlands”. It was indeed a huge church (for a village) and always open to the public so we would sometimes go and have a look inside. On one occasion there was no-one around so Gavin and I lit all the candles in the church as we thought it looked really pretty and brightened the place up a bit. Oh dear – that was definitely not the right thing to do! A strongly worded letter was sent to my dad from the vicar telling him in no uncertain terms that he should be disciplining his children a lot better than he was. My dad hit...

Viv Wilson | 15th March 1973 | Life at The Hall

LET THE BANQUETS COMMENCE!: It was the end of the summer season and rehearsals had started for the new venture of Mediaeval Banquets. All the cast would come round to the house each week and my mum and one or two other ladies were busy making the skirts and blouses for the wenches, although the main costumes were bought. My mum also made about 200 bibs which the guests were going to be wearing as eating five courses with a dagger can be quite messy! We had a King, a Jester, a Fire-eater, a Halberdier, an organist and various wenches and serving ladies. To launch the banquets my parents decided to hold a Press Reception about a month before and so we all gathered at the Hall one day in early September. There were lots of nibbles and quite a lot of champagne flowing and the newspapers and radio stations turned up to take lots of photos of us all in various poses and record interviews with the cast. It was a lovely, warm Autumn day and many of the photos were taken outdoors (see header picture). I remember it turning out to be quite a party, even though it started at 9.30 in the morning; as the day wore on and the organist started playing a few of the songs we would be doing at the banquets, everyone started dancing and singing along – it was 4pm by the time it finished! Banquets Press Launch 1973 - Here are the serving wenches waiting upon the 'King' - That's me sitting to the right of 'King' Barry! And so arrived the day of the first banquet. All the furniture and costumes from the Chinese Room and Ballroom had been removed and put into storage elsewhere in the house. A local carpenter had made long tables and benches to seat about over 200 guests in the Ballroom. We had employed caterers to do the food and the Chinese Room was used as a food preparation area next to the kitchen/café. A bar had been built in the middle of the Long Gallery. I had to sew numbers onto the coat hangers for the cloakroom – it took all day to do 100 hangers!...

Viv Wilson | 01st March 1973 | Life at The Hall

VENTURES NEW: We were now in our third year at the Hall and our lives were always busy keeping on top of the weeds and general upkeep of the house. My dad expected us children to help as much as possible, which we hated, and much of our time was spent trying to hide from him to get out of doing the chores. But sometimes we didn’t mind and we happily pulled an old trolley into the woods every now and then to collect wood for the fires and sometimes as a family we would spend a day clearing parts of the woods and grounds. My mum had hired a lady from the village to help with the housework and we had also taken on a retired chap called Mr Hickman to do some gardening. Gavin and I had found some huge barrels which had been left behind, probably from the wine and beer cellars from the Meynell days, and we had great fun learning to walk on them like they did in the circus! We also built a treehouse in one of the huge cedar trees which lined the path to the church. As per usual the three of us would hide up there and watch the visitors walk by on their way to the church, as this was also open to the public, then we would make animal noises or suchlike and throw pine cones into nearby bushes to make them jump! It was also a good place to hide from our dad! The visitors continued to come on a regular basis and my parents tried to think up different ideas to attract them. At one end of the terrace, near to the old grass tennis courts (still with two foot high grass on them!) they made a playground, which was fun for us too. My dad continued to buy and sell antiques to increase his collection in the house and was often at local auctions and occasionally made trips to London for sales at Sothebys or Christies auction houses. I once went with him and we spotted the actor Rodney Bewes from The Likely Lads TV programme – he pulled up next to Sothebys in his Rolls Royce! My dad’s antique collection continued to grow as he couldn’t resist a bargain and he would ...

Viv Wilson | 11th February 1973 | Life at The Hall

MOTOR RACING DAYS: Although my blogs are about living at Hoar Cross Hall, I would just like to give a bit of background about my dad’s racing career in the years leading up to moving to the Hall as this will set the scene for later instalments of my story. As mentioned in my first blog my dad used to be a racing driver but he actually started off racing motor cycles. He had been a despatch rider in World War 2 in North Africa and after the war ended and he’d recovered from TB he decided to take up racing his bike as a hobby. As he lived in Derby the nearest track was Donington Park and he raced there at the beginning of the 1950s. After that he moved onto cars and drove a Cooper 500cc (which is the equivalent to Formula 3) along with the likes of Graham Hill and Sterling Moss. Dad with his racing car - 1950's At the end of the 1950s he moved into Formula 2. Of course in those days it was completely different and much more ‘fun’, unlike more recent times where it has become a big money business. My dad didn’t have a rich family to support him or backers and probably did it all on a shoestring knowing him! He told me that he would always ‘take it easy’ so he could finish the race and not be bothered about winning; you would always get your ‘start’ money and he was satisfied with that. Accidents meant expensive repairs! During the 1960s he raced Lotus Elites and I have never forgotten the time, aged just 5 years old, when he took me for a spin around Mallory Park. My poor mother was worried to death and I have been terrified of speed ever since – can you imagine that happening today! He would spend all his time tinkering about on the car once it was back home and then take it for a test drive around the village in the early hours of the morning while everyone was asleep – except for the local policeman who was always coming round and telling him off! By the mid sixties he probably felt too old to be racing and so took on a dri...

Viv Wilson | 01st February 1973 | Life at The Hall

GHOSTBUSTERS! Later on in the year of 1973 a couple of professional ghost hunters asked to stay over one night to try and source the noises we heard in the attic. They brought cases full of recording equipment and set it all up in one of the attic rooms. Rather them than me I thought! Then I had a brilliant idea and went off to tell Gavin all about it. As mentioned in my first blog the attic and basement had a row of bells which the family used to summon the servants. Before the men arrived we spent all day trying out all the bells to see which ones were which. We found that one of the bell pulls in the Chase Dressing Room made one of the bells in the attic ring. We also found that the bell pull in the Morrey Bedroom rang a bell in the basement and a bell in the attic rang a bell in the Long Gallery! Gosh, these people must have been hearing bells ring all day long! Anyhow, the plan was that we would ring one of the bells right outside their room and when next day they told us about the noises we would tell them that the room for that bell was no longer there – it had been knocked down when the old kitchens had been demolished! Then they would realise that it must have been a ghost ringing the bell and listen to their recordings quivering in fear! Gavin and I were so excited we could hardly sleep that night. Before we went to bed we rang the bell quite a few times until we were satisfied that they had heard it then went to sleep. Next day we went up to see them expecting to hear all about the ringing bells but all they said was that they’d seen a fox running across the fields but nothing else! What a disappointment – our trick had failed even though they had all that fancy equipment to record any eerie sounds - perhaps they just fell asleep and forgot to switch it on. We still thought it was a good trick to play though and had fun doing it! Every now and then Mrs Meynell (who had sold us the house) would come round to see us and regale us wit...

Viv Wilson | 01st January 1973 | Life at The Hall

CALENDAR GIRLS AND FRONT COVERS: Occasionally people would hire the Hall and during the summer of 1973 a photographer from London hired the place for a day. He brought two models with him, one English and one German and they were taking photos for a glamour calendar. We were told to keep right out of the way as they were taking photos in the gardens as well as the house. Naturally we wanted to see everything that was going on and Gavin especially was very keen to watch – so much so that he found a pair of binoculars to follow all the proceedings! We managed to find all sorts of hiding places eventually settling in our attic room to keep tabs on everything. From the attic we could access the roof which was flat in places and meant that we could view all the grounds at the front of the house and the back. We often came up here to run around and explore and in the summer it was a great place to sun-bathe in private - not sure if our parents were aware that we did this! The girls wore wigs and hair pieces and were being photographed in military jackets with swords and other accessories from the house. They posed either topless or scantily clad in the gardens and in front of a pair of wrought iron gates holding onto two Great Danes right at the bottom of the garden. (Unfortunately, I can’t show the photos as they are too racy but the header picture, slightly obscured, gives you an idea). These gates linked the Ha-Ha wall. This was a wall which bordered the grounds and had a small ditch on the other side – the reason was that the ditch stopped the deer from jumping the wall; for on the other side was a deer park, although the deer had long since run off and it was just a field when we were there. The Ha-Ha wall is a French invention, the idea being that the recessed design element gives an uninterrupted view of the landscape beyond, so, a small wall above ground and the rest below ground next to the ditch which also stopped animals jumping into the garde...

Viv Wilson | 18th February 1972 | Life at The Hall

HUNTIN’, SHOOTIN’ & FISHIN’: As with most stately homes there was hunting, shooting and fishing. We participated in none of these but the Meynell and South Staffs Hunt used to meet locally to do a spot of fox hunting. They would all gather at different venues around the area and enjoy a drink before setting off. One of their usual places was the Meynell Ingram Arms Public House at the bottom of the village. In February 1972 they had their ‘meet’ at the Hall. We, as the host family, got all dressed up to meet and greet them and local helpers served drinks, usually sherry. (See header pic: Me with my Mum and brothers, Gavin and Piers). I had no interest in horses (unusual for a girl my age!) but the horses with their scarlet coated riders did look very impressive. The pack of hounds were everywhere, sniffing and panting and waiting for the off. My dad tried to make conversation with the Master of the Hounds by asking “So these are the dogs are they?” to which he received a curt “They’re hounds Mr Bickerton-Jones, not dogs!” Oh dear, mustn’t go upsetting the local gentry! We hated the idea of a little fox being terrorised by a pack of dogs – sorry, hounds - and being ripped to pieces. Gavin and I were actually playing in the woods once when the hunt went by quite near to us – the fox literally ran right past us at such a speed it was incredible! We hoped he would get away and tried to think up all sorts of plans to divert the hunt away from the fox, finally pointing them in the wrong direction as they got near to us! Years later someone we knew rode in the hunt for the first time and came home with blood on her forehead – this was her initiation into joining up; the blood of the fox daubed all over her to show it was her first time! It seems so barbaric. The other ‘sport’ was shooting pheasants. This was something that was started by Henry VIII when guns became easier to handle back around 1500 and continues to this ...

Viv Wilson | 01st March 1971 | Life at The Hall

THE GRAND OPENING: And so into 1971 and the preparation of the house so we could open it to the public by Easter. During the run up to buying the house my dad had been buying furniture, carpets and paintings like crazy and I remember our previous home being jam packed with chaise longues, sideboards and carved chests as well as all the arms and armour that he already had. This furniture was now set out in all the rooms. The Long Gallery My mum’s collection of Victorian costumes were on display in the Ballroom as well as my dad’s collection of silver plated ‘display’ armour, which hung around the panelled walls; the suits of armour and the many paintings they had lined the Long Gallery and other rooms. The old Dining Room was renamed The Chinese Room as my dad had quite a collection of Chinese armour, swords and wall hangings – and even a Burmese Palace Chair (see blog header pic!). Display cabinets bought at auction showed off smaller items. The biggest excitement though was seeing our house advertised on the local TV channel! The Ball Room The Damask Room was turned into Lady Dorothy’s Boudoir complete with an 18th century four poster bed, an original bed complete with canopy and hanging curtains slept in by aristocrats throughout the centuries. I used to love lying on the bed with the curtains closed imagining myself in another era – once I lay down on the bed and fell asleep. When I awoke and climbed out from behind the drapes it was to a roomful of visitors staring open mouthed at me! In another room my dad had his racing car surrounded by displays and photos of his racing career. The Entrance Hall was turned into a café area next to the kitchen, which had once been the old Butler’s Pantry, and my job was to bake scones and make sandwiches for the hungry visitors and groups that often came for a day out. Although I would make the scones earlier in the day, we would always leave a few in the oven so that there was a lovely...

Viv Wilson | 01st September 1970 | Life at The Hall

THE RENOVATIONS BEGIN: As previously mentioned, there was an East Wing and a West Wing to the house. My dad decided to convert the first floor rooms of each wing into three separate apartments, as he had done at our previous house. This would generate income from rents until we got the main house open to the public. It wasn’t a big job to convert the rooms as the East Wing had four main rooms and two bathrooms already there, which would have been used as guest bedrooms in Victorian times. He made these into two, one-bedroom apartments and made small kitchens in the spaces which connected the lounge and bedroom, probably once used as cupboard space. The spiral staircase with it’s green baize door opened onto the inner landing and this is how the servants would have accessed the rooms when bringing the family breakfast trays in the mornings. Where children were to be seen and not heard, servants were to be neither seen nor heard by members of the family and all the areas to the house were accessed via the spiral staircases and then inner hallways and corridors, so they could go about their duties quickly and quietly. My dad spent a lot of his time at auction houses buying and selling antiques and so he went back there again to source carpets and kitchen equipment. He also installed huge electric heaters to keep our new tenants warm. The West Wing was smaller than the East Wing so was made into a two-bedroomed apartment. The tenants entered the house through the basement entrance and used the spiral staircases to get to their homes – so they were a bit like the servants of old, neither seen nor heard by us! The next change to make was to our own rooms so we could move downstairs and have a bigger kitchen. The only space was in the East Wing off the Chapel Corridor – yes, this house boasted its own chapel which the family and servants used every morning for prayers at 9am sharp. There was a Damask Room, a Hessian Room and Hugo Meynell’s old bedro...

Viv Wilson | 01st August 1970 | Life at The Hall

THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT: Going to sleep in a big old house is quite scary when you’re young but going to sleep in a big old house that’s haunted is even more scary!! That first winter at the Hall was like that. Every time there was a windy night I could hear a window banging in the attic – all night long it kept me awake. The next day I would go upstairs to close it but there would be no windows open or even loose. They were all tightly shut as they had been for 20 years. I remember standing there in the attic rooms, the hairs prickling the back of my neck and quickly legging it back downstairs! On other nights I would hear people walking along the attic corridor (the attic was the floor right above our bedroom floor) and then I could hear heavy furniture being dragged about – yet there was nothing up there as the rooms were all empty! There was also nobody else in the house yet apart from our family and they definitely weren’t walking about the house at 3am. I loved reading about old houses, mysteries and ghosts but when you’re actually in the middle of it in real life, it’s a bit different. My parents also heard noises from their bedroom. It sounded like a room full of people talking, like at a party. They couldn’t work out if it was birds nesting under the eaves so they slept in another room down the corridor to see if they still heard it – and sure enough, they did! What was going on? Had we disturbed some lost souls forever wandering in the attics? One night my mum was woken up by the sight of a little girl ‘floating’ over the bed. By the time she’d woken my dad up the child had disappeared. She said the girl was wearing a long nightdress and mop cap and seemed to be stretching her arms out to my mum as if she was asking for help. Then on another occasion she appeared outside our lounge door when my mum opened it. She thought we’d dressed our little brother Piers in a gown and mop cap and told him to get ba...

Viv Wilson | 11th June 1970 | Life at The Hall

A BIT OF BACKGROUND: It was the summer of 1970, Mungo Jerry was at the top of the hit parade and we were about to move house. But not to any old house – to a 70 roomed mansion in 20 acres of grounds! For years my dad had collected antiques, ever since he was a young boy of 12, and it was his dream to own a large house where he could put them on show to the general public. In the 1970s he owned the largest private collection of arms and armour in the country and his dream was about to be realised; but little did we know what a nightmare would unfold before us. Hoar Cross Hall was the home of the Meynell Ingram family who originated from Leicestershire. Hugo Meynell of Quorndon was the High Sheriff of Staffordshire and Member of Parliament for Lichfield and the family owned considerable property in Staffordshire, Shropshire and Derbyshire. He bought the Hoar Cross estate in 1793 and built a hunting lodge there known as Old Hall and founded the Meynell Hunt. It seemed the family lived here for many years until Hugo’s grandson, also Hugo, got married in 1863 and decided to build the present Hall for him and his wife, Emily Charlotte. The house took nine years to build and was eventually finished in 1871. Hugo and Emily had already moved in, but their new life together was soon to be cut short by a tragic accident. Fourteen months earlier at Birch Wood on their estate Hugo had a horse riding accident and had been bed-ridden ever since – he died in May of that year. They had no children and Emily built The Church of the Holy Angels in the grounds of the hall in memory of her husband. This is the church that I got married in many years later. On Hugo’s death Emily inherited many large estates and they say she was a double millionairess – which in those days was a huge amount of money! And so we moved to this house with all its history and tragedies in the summer of 1970. My family consisted of my dad and mum, William and Gwynyth, descendents of...