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Gardeners' World at Hoar Cross #39

...ited to a party held for them in the Long Gallery. They were restricted to this area only, whenever there was a party or Servants Ball – well, you couldn’t have the servants peeking into the family’s private rooms could you? Although they must have been curious to see them! The Long Gallery where the servants' parties were held Other outdoor staff included the chauffeur who had been employed for many years by the Meynell family. They had owned a motor car since the very early years of the century and many more cars were owned subsequently. Mrs Ellen Fisher, widow of the then chauffeur, Albert, recalled how a Maudsley was delivered just after the Firs...

Gardeners' World #38

...ited to a party held for them in the Long Gallery. They were restricted to this area only, whenever there was a party or Servants Ball – well, you couldn’t have the servants peeking into the family’s private rooms could you? Although they must have been curious to see them! Other outdoor staff included the chauffeur who had been employed for many years by the Meynell family. They had owned a motor car since the very early years of the century and many more cars were owned subsequently. Mrs Ellen Fisher, widow of the then chauffeur, Albert, recalled how a Maudsley was delivered just after the First World War. This would have cost around £200, nearly four...

Get me to the church on time #31

...ever, the party was great and the band a huge success. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed themselves and drank the bar dry. My dad brought down the promised bottles of champagne that he had been saving for all those years and put them on our table. After a while he noticed that everyone was happily drinking the cheaper pomagne, which we had bought for the toast, so he took all the bottles back upstairs to his room! We didn’t even get one for ourselves Later on we had the speeches and, as I have said before, our best man was in the entertainment industry and was a professional performing magician. As he did his speech, he incorporated some of his tricks into the talk...

Gardeners World at Hoar Cross #43

...ited to a party held for them in the Long Gallery. They were restricted to this area only, whenever there was a party or Servants Ball – well, you couldn’t have the servants peeking into the family’s private rooms could you? Although they must have been curious to see them!Other outdoor staff included the chauffeur who had been employed for many years by the Meynell family. They had owned a motor car since the very early years of the century and many more cars were owned subsequently. Mrs Ellen Fisher, widow of the then chauffeur, Albert, recalled how a Maudsley was delivered just after the First World War. This would have cost around £200, nearly four ti...

The Halifax Estates - Garrowby #46

...Hugo Meynell-Ingram and his wife Emily Charlotte built Hoar Cross Hall to be their home after getting married in 1863. Emily was the daughter of Sir Charles Wood, 1st Viscount Halifax who owned considerable estates in the north of England. Their wealth came from the discovery of coal on their ancestral estate. In addition to this Sir Charles had a very successful political career, owning many seats in Garrowby and Pocklington near York; Hickleton near Doncaster and a home in Belgrave Square, London. He was a member of the Whig party, which in those days was likened to the Liberal party of today and served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1846-52. In the 1850...

Becoming A Rock Chick! #17

...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...