Story Search Results

See You In Court! #28

...ished and lots of paper shuffling had happened, the Judge looked at us all and said, “There’s only two people in this courtroom that are going to make anything out of this sorry state – and that’s you (dad’s Barrister) and you (mum’s Barrister)”.  He pointed at them both as he said it, as if they hadn’t already made a lot of money out of it! “Now go outside and sort it out between you. I’m going for lunch now and I want to see it all sorted when I get back”.  Well, what a shock!  Files and papers were quickly gathered up as we all walked back out into the corridor.  And then it began – the bartering and bargaining between the legal e...

THE TAX MAN COMETH #29

...disco and lots of real ales – they were good fun and went on to the early hours.  One of our friends was a farmer’s son and his farm was in the next village – after one such barn dance we all did a conga around the farmyard and woke all the sheep up.  Then we conga’d into a field full of cows – we thought it was hilarious until the ‘cows’ started to chase us; they were actually bulls!  The cows were all in their milking shed waiting to be milked – as we didn’t finish until 5am our friend would just go straight from the party to the milking shed and start his day’s work! As I said before there were always a few high jinks at the Meynell to...

The Tax Man Cometh #29

...disco and lots of real ales – they were good fun and always went on until the early hours. All the neighbouring land around Hoar Cross was owned by the Duchy of Cornwall estate (Prince Charles’ land) and after one of these barn dances someone set off for home down a dark lane and crashed into a garage next to someone’s house. The car went straight through the wooden doors at the front and hit the back wall. As the car came to a halt the whole garage collapsed on top of it. The owner of the garage came rushing out of the house, having been rudely awoken by the noise, and shouted at the partygoer as he staggered out of the car.“Look what you’ve done!! Do...

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...

Here comes the bride (Part 1) #30

...HERE COMES THE BRIDE (Part 1)   Our wedding preparations were going quite well.  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 help or advice from my mum as most brides do.   Kev’s parents had eloped after the war and got married in a register office with two witnesses dragged off the street, so they had no idea what you did to pla...

Moving Out #32

...esting ‘lots’ it had, quite a few of our well-to-do friends were there too. My dad was also there and told us he’d bought an oven for our new house. He couldn’t wait to tell us that it had only cost him £1. Even in those days £1 was ridiculously cheap, especially for an oven! He said it was in one of the outbuildings so we didn’t actually see it until the end of the auction. By then my dad had gone home so we set off to find our oven, congratulating ourselves on getting such a bargain. But when we saw it standing in the corner of a shed covered in cobwebs and full of rust our hearts sank. It must have been at least twenty years old and probably didn�...