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Skools out for summer! #14

SKOOLS OUT FOR SUMMER!       When Hugo and Emily Meynell built Hoar Cross Hall it included a whole estate with it, namely kitchen gardens, greenhouses, stables, a farm and cottages.  Old Hall (their original home) was also on the estate and was accessed via a private road, which ran from the main road.  By the time the seventies came along the stable block and Old Hall were private houses and another part of Old Hall had been made into a children’s home.  Emily Meynell had started this home in the Victorian days, calling it ‘The Home of the Good Shepherd’ but it was for boys only at that time.  When we were there it was a mixed home and run by a hu...

Midnight pool parties #22

...t near to Hoar Cross the car was still a little way behind us and we began to think that it might be following us as you never saw many cars out there late at night!  As we got to the Lodge and the entrance to the Hall we decided to suddenly turn right onto the private road and as we did so Kev switched off his lights hoping that the car wouldn’t see us.  We didn’t have any reason to worry but we thought it would be fun to lose them, as you do when you’re young!  Alas, it had seen into our cunning plan and promptly turned onto the private road too.  However, we were one step ahead of them as we knew these roads intimately and we turned into the woods a...

Panto Pranks! #23

...PANTO PRANKS!       During the 1970s Hoar Cross Hall was used from time to time for local community activities and one such event was the production in 1978 of a traditional pantomime, ‘Midnight and a Journey back to Happiness’.   It was written by local people, Robert Leighton from Yoxall and the Hon. Alexandra Meynell, daughter-in-law of Mrs Jean Meynell whom we had purchased the Hall from.  The words and music were written by local songwriter, David Matthews, who had written songs for quite a few pop artists during the 1960s, his most famous being Matt Munro’s ‘We’re gonna change the world’.  So off to a good start there! For those of you...

The haunting of Hoar Cross Hall #15

...THE HAUNTING OF Hoar Cross HALL:       (Based on a true story)   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 realised 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...

Midnight pool parties #21

...t near to Hoar Cross the car was still a little way behind us and we began to think that it might be following us as you never saw many cars out there late at night!  As we got to the Lodge and the entrance to the Hall we decided to suddenly turn right onto the private road and as we did so Kev switched off his lights hoping that the car wouldn’t see us.  We didn’t have any reason to worry but we thought it would be fun to lose them, as you do when you’re young!  Alas, it had seen into our cunning plan and promptly turned onto the private road too.  However, we were one step ahead of them as we knew these roads intimately and we turned into the woods a...

Panto Pranks! #22

...PANTO PRANKS!      During the 1970s Hoar Cross Hall was used from time to time for local community activities and one such event was the production in 1978 of a traditional pantomime, ‘Midnight and a Journey back to Happiness’.   It was written by local people, Robert Leighton from Yoxall and the Hon. Alexandra Meynell, daughter-in-law of Mrs Jean Meynell whom we had purchased the Hall from.  The words and music were written by local songwriter, David Matthews, who had written songs for quite a few pop artists during the 1960s, his most famous being Matt Munro’s ‘We’re gonna change the world’.  So off to a good start there! For those of you w...