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Moving Out #32

And so the day arrived a month or so after our wedding when my dad had to leave Hoar Cross Hall. Ten years after moving in he was now moving out, leaving his dream home for my mum to live in alone. Gavin moved with him and Piers was away at school most of the time. It was a mammoth task as he had so much stuff to move, especially from the basement. He had some heavy machinery too that he’d brought with him from his alabaster days, including a band saw which we used to saw up logs for the huge fireplaces in the main rooms. He had bought a house in nearby Burton-on-Trent which had some outbuildings for a workshop and there he moved to start afresh. He carried o...

A New Year Calamity! #35

...htclub in Leicester was subjected to a ceiling inspection – Kev asked the inspector why this strange law had been made as it seemed a bit pointless and an unnecessary expense for us. He was told that it was due to some incident in a stately home near Lichfield back in the 70s when a ceiling moulding had fallen on somebody’s head. Imagine the looks on our faces when we realised it was my own stately home he was referring to – this inspection cost us £1500 - and all because of my dad! Happy New Year!!   Don’t miss next week’s instalment:  'The War Years and Beyond'   If you’d like to follow my story from the beginning, please click here and fe...

Hoar Cross Hall - A bit of History #54

...ated from Leicestershire, namely Quorndon. In the 18th century Hugo Meynell had the title of ‘the father of fox-hunting’ as he had founded the Quorn Hunt in 1750 which became famous around the district. He bred his own strain of foxhounds and was the first person to study fox-h unting from a scientific point of view. He bought Quorn Hall in 1754 and built stables and kennels there, having 30 horses stabled at its height. In 1758 he became High Sheriff of Staffordshire and Member of Parliament for Lichfield. When his son, Hugo, died in 1800 he sold Quorn Hall to the Earl of Sefton and left to live in Derbyshire; although the family owned large amounts of pro...

A New Year Calamity! #75

...htclub in Leicester was subjected to a ceiling inspection – Kev asked the inspector why this strange law had been made as it seemed a bit pointless and an unnecessary expense for us.  He was told that it was due to some incident in a stately home near Lichfield back in the 70s when a ceiling moulding had fallen on somebody’s head.  Imagine the looks on our faces when we realised it was my own stately home he was referring to – this inspection cost us £1500 - and all because of my dad!   Happy New Year!!   If you’d like to follow my story from the beginning, please click here and feel free to share with your friends Join me on a Tour of the Hall...

A New Year Calamity! #90

...htclub in Leicester was subjected to a ceiling inspection – Kev asked the inspector why this strange law had been made as it seemed a bit pointless and an unnecessary expense for us.  He was told that it was due to some incident in a stately home near Lichfield back in the 1970s when a ceiling moulding had fallen on somebody’s head.  Imagine the looks on our faces when we realised it was my own stately home he was referring to – this inspection cost us £1500 - and all because of my dad! Happy New Year!!   If you’d like to follow my story from the beginning, please click here and feel free to share with your friends. Follow me around my childhood...

Hysterical Productions #17

...Hotel in Leicester as the singer at the banquets was doing a gig there with ‘Dana’ and ‘Peters and Lee’.  Mum loved them and as it was her birthday she and I went along too and had a lovely evening out complete with dinner which cost the grand total of £7.56 for two!  We even pretended we were sisters for fun and when the waiters found out it was mum’s birthday, they all sang “Happy Birthday” to her – what a night! And what a night one particular banquet turned out to be.  Halfway through the evening a man became ill and came and sat in the Long Gallery.   A little while later his friend came up to my mum and told her he’d had a heart a...