Story Search Results

A New Year Calamity! #30

A NEW YEAR CALAMITY!       the New Year’s Eve Balls at the Hall 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 and sporran, would pipe in the new year with his bagpipes. Down the Long Gallery he would slowly walk...

Ghostbusters! #8

GHOSTBUSTERS!      People were always coming to the Hall to either hire the place or to have a look around.  In 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 my brother 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 two men arrived we spent all day trying out all the bells to see which ones were which....

Eat, drink and be merry! #10

EAT, DRINK AND BE MERRY!        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 calle...

Ghostbusters! #8

GHOSTBUSTERS! People were always coming to Hoar Cross Hall to either hire the place or to have a look around. In 1973, because of all the media interest in our ghosts, we had a couple of professional ghost hunters asking to stay over one night to try and find the source of the noises. 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 my brother 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 three men arrived we spent all day trying out all t...

What the Butler saw!

WHAT the BUTLER SAW!       Anyone who’s seen Downton Abbey will remember Carter the butler.  He is exactly how a butler would have been in the 19th century and, strangely enough, the butler at the Hall during the early part of the 20th century was also called Carter! Although most big houses had a house steward who was in charge of accounts and general running of the household, a butler was more commonly engaged by the wealthy.  He was usually a grand, authoritarian figure, commanding respect and awe and most of the servants would have been scared to death of upsetting him!  He was dressed like a gentleman of the period and generally ran the household...

Motor Racing Days #9

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 in the 1930s. Because of this he became a despatch rider during the Second World War and spent a lot of time in North Africa. After the war he started racing motor bikes at nearby Donington Park and he raced there up to the beginning of the 1950s. After that he moved onto cars and drove a Cooper 5...