Story Search Results

Hoar Cross Hall - Life below stairs #19

This week I’ve done a historical blog about the servants who lived at the Hall from the 1870s to the 1950s when the Hall became empty. They were an essential part of keeping a big house running but were often not appreciated by the aristocracy as they went about their day to day duties. The life of a servant in Victorian times was a hard one. They had to rise at 5am to clean and light all the fires and dust and polish the floors, then do a day’s work, often not getting to bed much before midnight. No wonder they didn’t live to a great age in those days! By the end of the 19th century there were nearly one and a half million servants; most young girls went...

Race Day Parties! #25

My dad used to be a racing driver so he was often invited to parties and open days at various racing circuits. He naturally knew lots of racing people and on this particular occasion he was invited to an Open Day at Donington Park. Tom Wheatcroft, a local entrepreneur, had bought Donington Park in the 1970s as he owned the largest collection of Grand Prix cars in the world at that time. In 1973 he opened a museum there to house them all and called it the Donington Grand Prix Exhibition.  This sadly closed in 2018. Donington became the favoured Home of the British round of the MotoGP motorcycling championships but he was really hoping to bring Formula 1 racing b...

Panto Pranks! #30

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 who don’t reside in the UK an...

Hoar Cross Hall - Life Below Stairs #35

This week I’ve done a history blog about the servants who lived at Hoar Cross Hall from the 1870s to the 1950s when the Hall became empty. They were an essential part of keeping a big house running but were often not appreciated by the aristocracy as they went about their day to day duties. The life of a servant in Victorian times was a hard one. They had to rise at 5am to clean and light all the fires and dust and polish the floors, then do a day’s work, often not getting to bed much before midnight. No wonder they didn’t live to a great age in those days! By the end of the 19th century there were nearly one and a half million servants; most young girls...

The ghost of Christmas past #73

Another Christmas story in the run up to the festive season - it may send a shiver down your spine! (Based on true stories) 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 realized 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 prepar...

A Christmas Celebration #74

The final festive story is here based on true events and people that lived at Hoar Cross Hall.  “Come on, look sharp!” shouted Cook to her assistants in the kitchen.  “We’ve got a load of cooking to do for the Christmas party at the weekend and if you don’t get a move on there’ll be nothing to eat!” The kitchen maids looked at each other, stopped their gossiping and started to move a bit quicker.  Cook could be quite intimidating when she was in one of her moods.  The table was laden with pastries, jellies and fruit and the girls were just putting the finishing touches to the gingerbread biscuits before starting on the blancmange. “I love...