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Moving Out #31

MOVING OUT:     <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> so the day arrived a month or so after our wedding when my dad had to leave Hoar Cross 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 <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> 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 b<Span class='highlight'>andSpan> 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 <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> there he moved to start af...

More tea Vicar? #11

MORE TEA VICAR?     During the long summer holidays it was easy to get bored. As there was no public transport from Hoar Cross <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> no children living nearby, we three children had to make our own entertainment <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> we were always having adventures <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> getting up to mischief – a bit like the Famous Five but without a dog! We would roam around the village or explore the basement. My dad was a hoarder <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> had kept all sorts of stuff over the years including gas masks <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> field phones from World War 2. The old Servants Hall was now my dad’s workshop <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> he spent a lot of time down there restoring antiques to sell. He had one of the field phones in his workshop...

Moving Out #29

<Span class='highlight'>andSpan> so the day arrived a month or so after our wedding when my dad had to leave Hoar Cross 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 <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> 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 b<Span class='highlight'>andSpan> 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 <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> there he moved to start afresh. He carried o...

The War Years <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> Beyond #36

...became a <Span class='highlight'>HotelSpan> <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> Spa in 1990 with a swimming pool in exactly the same location as where the monks were going to put theirs!<Span class='highlight'>andSpan> so onto 1970 when my family bought the Hall. Apparently my dad had seen a notice about the contents sale of Dr Gillies in 1963, <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> had shown an interest in the Hall back then. I imagine my mother said ‘No’ as she had two small children at that time! Mrs Meynell had kept his phone number <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> rang him up in 1969 to see if he was still interested in buying the Hall after the monks had left. This time he said ‘Yes’ <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> the rest, as they say, is history! This has now brought my blog full circle <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> if you would like to read it fro...

"He's behind you!" #66

...During the 1970s Hoar Cross Hall was used from time to time for local community activities <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> one such event was the production in 1978 of a traditional pantomime, ‘Midnight <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> a Journey back to Happiness’.   It was written by local people, Robert Leighton from Yoxall <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> the Hon. Alex<Span class='highlight'>andSpan>ra Meynell, daughter-in-law of Mrs Jean Meynell whom we had purchased the Hall from.  The words <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> 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 who don’t reside in t...

Moving Into a Mansion #67

...As summer turns to autumn my thoughts have gone back in time to 1970 when my family moved house at this time of the year - not to any old house, but to a 70-roomed stately home in Staffordshire!  The whole process of moving  was done over the summer months as we lived about 20 miles away in an old vicarage with a large garden <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> lots of outbuildings. This house was about 200 years old <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> 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 <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> 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 1...