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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...

Rags to Riches #14

Before we moved to Hoar Cross Hall in Staffordshire we lived in Derbyshire.  My family originated from Derby and my parents were married there in July 1952. Mum was 19 and dad was 36 so quite a bit older. they both lived in Derby and were very arty; my dad went to the Derby Sketching Club in his free time and my mum attended art college. I’m not sure where they met but it was either at something art related or at a dance, as was usual in those days. My dad was a sculptor by trade; I think his interest was sparked by seeing all the beautiful alabaster in Italian churches during the war. After the war he set up his own business making alabaster lamps, bowls and...

Whodunit in the Library #24

When we first moved to Hoar Cross Hall, growing up in a stately home seemed an idyllic way to live – and lots of fun if you’re a child. This rambling old house full of empty rooms and secret doors, wild gardens and woods to explore, was in some ways a dream come true for our family, certainly for my father. But as we turned from children to teenagers the isolation and lack of public transport was frustrating. Coupled with this was my parents' fighting and subsequent split, living at each end of the house and battling for the house and business through their solicitors. the small gardens we loved to explore   the effect this had on me, as the eldest c...

the Kitchen Maid's Tale #41

If you were young, free and single – oh, and very well-to-do – the 1920s were the decade to be a part of. the upper classes had lots of time on their hands and enjoyed post-First World War delights such as the theatre and jazz clubs.Not so for the lower classes, in particular a young girl who was to become the kitchen maid at Hoar Cross Hall in the 1920s. the ‘depression’ after the First World War brought stark poverty to her home and many like her. Her name was Jean Rennie, and she was extremely intelligent having won a scholarship to Glasgow University to study French and music. However, the £5 bursary she got (equivalent to around £250 in today's mo...

Rags to Riches #63

My family originated from Derby and my parents were married there in July 1952.  Mum was 19 and dad was 36 so quite a bit older.  they both lived in Derby and were very arty; my dad went to the Derby Sketching Club in his free time and my mum attended art college.  I’m not sure where they met but it was either at something art related or at a dance, as was usual in those days.  My dad was a sculptor by trade; I think his interest was sparked by seeing all the beautiful alabaster in Italian churches during the war. My parents on their wedding day - 1952   After the Second World War he set up his own business making alabaster lamps, bowls and candles...

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 hear peopl...