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The Graveyard Shift..... #24

The GRAVEYARD SHIFT...... Life carried on at The Hall as best it could in difficult circumstances.  My dad continued to go to arms 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 Benbow so quite sturdy, although in need of a lick of paint and...

See You In Court! #28

...Night At The Meynell Arms They piled all The furniture up at each end of The pub to make a barricade Then used fire extinguishers and soda syphons to squirt water and throw beer at each oTher until one side ‘won’.  As you can imagine, The mess was horrendous; water was everywhere!  Every week The cleaner resigned and They would have to find anoTher one.  What a place! But all this jollity didn’t put off The inevitable day in court.   Birmingham Crown Court was where we all met to finally sort out this miserable mess that my parents had got Themselves into.   On The one side was my dad with his solicitor and Barrister plus Kev and I for moral su...

The TAX MAN COMETH #29

...The TAX MAN COMETH - The court case was finally over and my dad had six months to leave The house.  In The meantime my mum had to find The funds to buy him out and he had to find anoTher house to live in.  He also had an awful lot of stuff to move too!  He eventually found a house in nearby Burton on Trent but as it was obviously a lot smaller he had to get rid of a lot of his possessions and one of The first things to go was his Lotus Elite.  He advertised it in The local paper but instead of getting a phone call from a likely buyer, The first call was from The local tax office.  Back in those days They used to check advertisements in The newspapers and t...

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 h...

Ghostbusters! #8

...GHOSTBUSTERS!      People were always coming to The Hall to eiTher hire The place or to have a look around.  In 1973 a couple of professional ghost hunters asked to stay over one night to try and source The noises we heard in The attic.  They brought cases full of recording equipment and set it all up in one of The attic rooms.  RaTher Them than me I thought!  Then I had a brilliant idea and went off to tell my broTher Gavin all about it.  As mentioned in my first blog The attic and basement had a row of bells which The family used to summon The servants.  Before The two men arrived we spent all day trying out all The bells to see which ones were which....

Ghouls Galore! #19

...GHOULS  GALORE!      One of The great things about living in a stately home is that you can have a wild party with The loudest of music – and no-one will hear it!  I was now going out with Kev, whom I had met at college.  Mum was a bit disappointed that my sensible boyfriend and I had parted company after 18 months of an on/off relationship but she accepted Kev into The fold and eventually met all The oTher members of The band.  I think she wanted to put her mind at rest that They were a bunch of nice lads and not a drug crazed rock band eating bats!  Which of course They were! No – I’m only kidding!  After The awful split up at Christmas my pare...