Story Search Results

The Graveyard Shift #23

...e station bar! Kev was furious – he’d nearly gone mad being locked in a small room for all that time, although the on duty police officer had let him out for a cigarette and a coffee as he felt sorry for him! Solicitors’ letters came in a steady stream as the months turned into years. Two years of arguments before the actual split was followed by a further four years of battling for the business and the house. Solicitors will always drag things out as they are the ones making the most money out of it all and they certainly dragged it out as long as they could! My dad continued to sell his antiques but with all the smaller items gone he now had to try and...

Mediaeval Mayhem! #11

.../café. A bar had been built in the middle of the Long Gallery. I had to sew numbers onto the coat hangers for the cloakroom – it took all day to do 100 hangers! The afternoon was spent laying the tables with mugs, daggers and serviettes. Before 7pm we went to get changed into our mediaeval dresses; Myra (the fire-eaters wife) and myself were doing the cloakroom first before helping serve drinks when the banquet started. We also shared the tips, which were usually quite good!   The dancing bear that chased me!   A lot of the guests arrived in coaches as they often came for a night out with their work colleagues. They would then wait in the Long Galle...

See you in Court #27

...to make a barricade then used fire extinguishers and soda syphons to squirt water 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! A typical Tuesday night fight!   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 support. On the other side was my mum with her solicitor and barrister and o...

"He's behind you!" #66

...During the 1970s Hoar Cross Hall was used from time to time for local community activities and one such event was the production in 1978 of a traditional pantomime, ‘Midnight and a Journey back to Happiness’.   It was written by local people, Robert Leighton from Yoxall and the Hon. Alexandra Meynell, daughter-in-law of Mrs Jean Meynell whom we had purchased the Hall from.  The words and music were written by local songwriter, David Matthews, who had written songs for quite a few pop artists during the 1960s, his most famous being Matt Munro’s ‘We’re gonna change the world’.  So off to a good start there! For those of you who don’t reside in t...

Racing travels #40

...kept the bar open long into the night.  At another place the innkeeper's wife made a pass at them - I don't think they were very interested as she was well past her prime and rather large!  But I think she fed them well as my dad always had some treat on him that he would give to the owners. From each country that he went to he brought home a doll in that country's traditional costume.  This amounted to quite a collection eventually and below is a photo of most of them.  I wonder if you recognise your own country's costume and if you can tell me where they are from as I have forgotten some of them after all these years!  The matador and his bull are obvio...

Whodunit in the Library? #24

...n a local bar that the landlord rang for an ambulance and I was whisked off to hospital with suspected appendicitis. After a full examination I was told there was nothing wrong but that it was probably my nerves affecting me. After a visit to my GP he told me it was nerves and prescribed Valium tablets (now known as Diazepam) which was a drug to relax you when you felt under stress. Both my parents were already on this medication and we would often borrow each other’s tablets if one of us ran out! I now realise what a ridiculous situation this was – Valium was a powerful drug to be taken for 2-3 months but back in the 70s I was freely given it (aged 17) and...