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Suits you Sir! #22

SUITS YOU SIR!      When we moved to Hoar Cross 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 o...

The Haunting of Hoar Cross HAll #27

THE HAUNTING OF HOAR CROSS HAll:    (Based on true events)             The typewriter keys clattered away as Viv wrote her story. It was coming along nicely and she was feeling pleased with herself. The attic room that she and her brothers had made into their ‘den’ was ideal for getting away from everybody and having some peace and quiet and she quite forgot about the time as she lost herself in the plot. Suddenly she looked up and realized how dark it was getting; the December nights were pulling in and it was already quite dusky by 3.30pm. Quickly she packed her books and folders away and prepared to go downstairs. How she hated being up in the a...

Motor Racing days #9

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 500cc (which is the...

The ghost of Christmas past #73

Another Christmas story in the run up to the festive season - it may send a shiver down your spine! (Based on true stories) The typewriter keys clattered away as Viv wrote her story.  It was coming along nicely and she was feeling pleased with herself.  The attic room that she and her brothers had made into their ‘den’ was ideal for getting away from everybody and having some peace and quiet and she quite forgot about the time as she lost herself in the plot.  Suddenly she looked up and realized how dark it was getting; the December nights were pulling in and it was already quite dusky by 3.30pm.  Quickly she packed her books and folders away and prepar...

Get me to the church on time! #30

My dad was having to move out of Hoar Cross HAll and we had decided to bring our wedding forward so we that we could get married in the church in the grounds and then have the reception afterwards in the HAll, which was after All our family home. The wedding preparations were going quite well and 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...

Moving Into a Mansion #67

As summer turns to autumn my thoughts have gone back in time to 1970 when my family moved house at this time of the year - not to any old house, but to a 70-roomed stately home in Staffordshire!  The whole process of moving  was done over the summer months as we lived about 20 miles away in an old vicarage with a large garden and lots of outbuildings. This house was about 200 years old and they say Bonnie Prince Charlie marched past it on his way to battle back in the day, for All you history buffs out there!  ActuAlly I love history and I think my interest was fuelled by living in these historic houses as a child.  My dad used to be a racing driver in the 1...