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Becoming a rock chick #18

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 in Uttoxeter which still had wooden desks with inkwells in them!  Even the teachers wore their mortar boards and gowns just like the ones at Eton and Harrow – or the Beano!   However, in the last two years there I had made a few good friends and we would go into town every lunch time to meet up with a group of guys that worked at the local J. C. Bamford 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...

Panto Pranks! #23

...‘ATV Today’ cameras were present for the dress rehearsal and a clip of three or four minutes on the television no doubt helped to boost the ticket sales.  The pantomime was on for three nights and had capacity audiences every night of 300 people.  A good profit was made and a donation went to the Prince Charles’ Appeal for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Fund.  This was the first time that I’d been involved in ‘theatricals’ and it was such a good atmosphere in the house (for once!) that we all hoped there would be another one – sadly, it wasn’t to be. As usual we would meet up in the Meynell pub in the village and the pantomime was the topic of...

Rags to Riches #12

...RAGS TO RICHES:     My family originated from Derby and my parents were married there 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...

The haunting of Hoar Cross Hall #15

...e. A few days later Viv and Gavin were rummaging through the dressing up box trying to find Christmas outfits – they wanted to dress their little brother Piers up in Victorian clothes.  Their mother was helping them and they had a lot of fun pretending to be different characters.  That evening there was a knock on the lounge door upstairs and their mother, Gwynyth, opened it to see a small child standing there. “Is that you Piers?” she asked in astonishment.  She thought the children had dressed him up again for a joke.  “Get back to bed, it’s really late!” The child ran down the bedroom corridor and Gwynyth followed but soon lost sight of him...

Panto Pranks! #22

...‘ATV Today’ cameras were present for the dress rehearsal and a clip of three or four minutes on the television no doubt helped to boost the ticket sales.  The pantomime was on for three nights and had capacity audiences every night of 300 people.  A good profit was made and a donation went to the Prince Charles’ Appeal for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Fund.  This was the first time that I’d been involved in ‘theatricals’ and it was such a good atmosphere in the house (for once!) that we all hoped there would be another one – sadly, it wasn’t to be. As usual we would meet up in the Meynell pub in the village and the pantomime was the topic of...

The Grand Opening #5

...ame 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 smell of home baking floating around the place – a sure-fire way of making sales! Another way of generating sales was by giving us three kids an ice cream to eat out on the terrace on a hot summer’s day. Soon everyone was asking for one too. My dad was good at that sort of thing and we certainly didn’t mind helping out!  Here you can see us in the cafe with my mum's tapestry of the Canterbury Tales on the wall. My family in the Entrance Hall cafe   I seem to remember we had quite a good number of people that fi...