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Ghouls Galore! #17

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 – <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> 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 <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> I had parted company after 18 months of an on/off relationship but she accepted Kev into the fold <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> eventually met all the other members of the b<Span class='highlight'>andSpan>. I think she wanted to put her mind at rest that they were a bunch of nice lads <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> not a drug crazed rock b<Span class='highlight'>andSpan> eating bats! Which of course they were! No – I’m only kidding! After the awful split up at Christmas my parents were now liv...

Here Comes the Bride (Part 1) #32

HERE COMES THE BRIDE (Part 1):   Now my dad was having to move out of the Hall we had decided to bring our wedding forward so that we could get married in the church in the grounds (the Church of the Holy Angels) <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> then have the reception afterwards in the Hall, which was after all our family home. The wedding preparations were going quite well <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> as we knew lots of musicians it wasn’t hard to find a local b<Span class='highlight'>andSpan> <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> a DJ to do the disco. A friend of my dad’s offered to do the catering <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> the bar was set up with plenty of kegs from the local brewery in Burton on Trent. I had two bridesmaids <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> we all went to Birmingham one day to choose our dresses <Span class='highlight'>andSpan>...

Calendar Girls <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> Front Covers #7

CALENDAR GIRLS <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> FRONT COVERS During our time at Hoar Cross Hall people would occasionally hire the house for a day’s filming or whatever. During the summer of 1973 a photographer from London hired the house <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> grounds for a day <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> he brought two models with him, one English <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> one German - they were taking photos for a glamour calendar! We children were told to keep right out of the way as they were taking photos in the gardens as well as the house. Naturally we wanted to see everything that was going on <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> my younger brother Gavin especially was very keen to watch – so much so that he found a pair of binoculars to follow all the proceedings! We mana...

Here comes the Bride (Part 2) #31

HERE COMES THE BRIDE (Part 2):        <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> so our wedding day arrived bright <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> clear, all thoughts of solicitors, legals, fights <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> arrests behind us!   Myself <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> my bridesmaids went to get our hair done in the morning <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> Kev slapped a piece of steak on his jaw to bring the swelling down after the rather unfortunate fight at his stag do.  Fortunately, the bruise didn’t show up too much on the photos!  Gavin drove my dad’s Mercedes Benz car all the way down the drive <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> back up the road to the church – this was one of the drawbacks of having a church in your grounds; you don’t get to drive all through the town with everyone looking at you! ...

Here Comes the Bride (Part 2) #30

HERE COMES THE BRIDE (Part 2):    <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> so our wedding day at Hoar Cross Hall arrived bright <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> clear, all thoughts of solicitors, legals, fights <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> arrests behind us! Myself <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> my bridesmaids went to get our hair done in the morning <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> Kev slapped a piece of steak on his jaw to bring the swelling down after the rather unfortunate fight at his stag do. Fortunately, the bruise didn’t show up too much on the photos! Gavin drove my dad’s Mercedes Benz car all the way down the drive <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> back up the road to the church – this was one of the drawbacks of having a church in your grounds; you don’t have a nice long drive all through the town with everyone loo...

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 <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> Armour Fairs to buy <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> sell antiques <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> 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, <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> that seemed to cheer him up. But he really needed to get away from the house for longer periods of time <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> when he saw a boat advertised for sale at Caernarvon he jumped at the chance <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> bought it. It was an ex lifeboat called The Bembo so quite sturdy, although in need of a lick of paint <Span class='highlight'>andSpan> a bit of TLC. Th...