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Mediaeval Mayhem! #13

It was the end of the summer season at Hoar Cross Hall in 1973 and rehearsals had started for the new venture of Mediaeval Banquets. All the cast would come round to the house each week for rehearsals and my mum and one or two other ladies were busy making the skirts and blouses for the wenches. My mum also made about 200 bibs which the guests were going to be wearing as eating five courses with a dagger can be quite messy! We had a King, a Jester, a Fire-eater, a Halberdier, an organist and various wenches and serving ladies. To launch the banquets my parents decided to hold a Press Reception about a month before and so we all gathered at the Hall one day in ea...

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...

The Graveyard Shift #23

Life carried on at Hoar Cross Hall as best it could in difficult circumstances. My dad continued to go to Arms and Armour Fairs to buy and sell antiques and we also went to a mediaeval banquet in Cheshire one night, although it wasn’t anywhere near as good as ours! Once or twice we took my dad out with our friends to Derby, where he originated from, and that seemed to cheer him up. But he really needed to get away from the house for longer periods of time and when he saw a boat advertised for sale at Caernarvon he jumped at the chance and bought it. It was an ex lifeboat called The Bembo so quite sturdy, although in need of a lick of paint and a bit of TLC. Th...

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...

A New Year Calamity! #35

The New Year’s Eve Balls at Hoar Cross Hall were usually the highlight of the year. After twelve months of hard work, especially running the Mediaeval Banquets twice a week through the winter, we were always ready to see out the year in style with a big new year party. In those days it was always black tie for the men and long dresses for the ladies – usually around 500 people bought tickets for an evening of entertainment with a dance band, disco and a meal. At midnight a man dressed in traditional Scottish regalia, including a kilt and sporran, would pipe in the new year with his bagpipes. Down the Long Gallery he would slowly walk and into the Ballroom wi...

Skools out for Summer! #58

When Hugo and Emily Meynell built Hoar Cross Hall they also included on their estate 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 husband and wife couple. They used to have fetes t...