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Ghouls Galore! #85

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!!  As we approach Hallowe'en my mind has gone back to that first winter at Hoar Cross Hall and all the scary things that happened - and that was without any trick or treaters in those days!  We quickly realised that we weren’t the only inhabitants of the house.  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 the attics to close it but there would be no windows open or even loose.   They were all tightly shut as...

The Graveyard Shift..... #24

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...

RACE TRACK ‘AFTER PARTIES’ #27

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 F...

Here comes the bride (Part 2)

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!  Neve...

Moving Out#32

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 a...

Things that go bump in the night! #3

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 h...