Story Search Results

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 haunted house is Even more scary!! That first winter at Hoar Cross HAll was like that. The attic rooms were on the floor above our bedrooms – there were about fifteen rooms which had been used for the servant girls to sleep in. 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 those d...

Suits You Sir! #23

SUITS YOU SIR! When we moved to the 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 out in...

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 at nearby Donington Park and he raced there up to the beginning of the 1950s.  After that he moved onto cars and dr...

Race Day Parties! #25

My dad used to be a racing driver so 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.  This sadly closed in 2018. Donington became the favoured home of the British round of the MotoGP motorcycling championships but he was reAlly hoping to bring Formula 1 racing b...

Moving Day Arrives #2

My parents took vacant possession of Hoar Cross HAll in 1970 and the whole process of moving house was done over the summer months. 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 1950s and before that he did motorcycle racing, often at nearby Donnington Park. During the 1960s he ran his own team, Shardlow Motor R...

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...