Story Search Results

VENTURES NEW #10

VENTURES NEW: We were now in our third year at the Hall and our lives were always busy keeping on top of the weeds and general upkeep of the house.  My dad expected us children to help as much as possible, which we hated, and much of our time was spent trying to hide from him to get out of doing the chores.  But sometimes we didn’t mind and we happily pulled an old trolley into the woods every now and then to collect wood for the fires and sometimes as a family we would spend a day clearing parts of the woods and grounds.  My mum had hired a lady from the village to help with the housework and we had also taken on a retired chap called Mr Hickman to do some...

Party On! #18

PARTY ON! 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 begrudgingly 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 parents...

Racing travels #40

RACING TRAVELS:   During the 1960s my dad travelled all over Europe with his racing team.  The header photo shows him with his VW van with his racing car on the back.  He usually took two mechanics with him who were friends of his who just loved racing and volunteered their services for a free holiday abroad!  He went to all the big racing circuits:  Hockenheim, Nurburgring and Monza, travelling across Europe to get to them.  He always came back with lots of funny stories to tell.  Because the van he used wasn't brand new it would sometimes break down but at least he had two mechanics with him - however, getting parts wasn't easy in the 1960s, especially...

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...

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...

The Kitchen Maid's Story

THE KITCHEN MAID’S STORY:      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 g...