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Skools out for summer! #12

SKOOLS OUT FOR SUMMER!    When Hugo and Emily Meynell built Hoar Cross HAll it stood within 50 acres of land.  Their estate included 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...

Midnight Pool Parties #21

After leaving school I spent a year at Burton-on-Trent Technical College studying to be a secretary but my year at college had come to an end - now to find a job! It didn’t take too long as there was plenty of employment around in the sEventies and I was soon offered a position with a smAll engineering firm in Burton. As I didn’t drive there was still the problem of me getting to work and dad managed to talk the residents of our apartments into taking me, as they were going to Burton Every day as well, and it would save him coming out twice a day (no doubt he was thinking about the petrol he would save too!) Kev, my boyfriend, and the band were getting a fe...

The Kitchen Maid's Story #36

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 was taken by her father and used to buy...

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...

Midnight Pool Parties # 59

Following on with the summer theme my mind drifted back to those halcyon days of summer when we were All young and lively and hanging out with a large group of friends.  By now Kev and I had left college and were both working but weekends were for fun and parties! Kev and the band were also getting a few gigs around the area and after singing with them for a little while I gave it up and let a more professional singer take over – I needed to work on my confidence first!   We still went to the local '76 Club' though to see live music – it was the start of the punk era and we saw the Sex Pistols there when they were just starting out – I have to say they...