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More tea vicar? #12

MORE TEA VICAR?   Life at Hoar Cross Hall was always busy but during the long summer holidays it was easy to get bored.  As there was no public transport from Hoar Cross and no other families living nearby, we three children had to make our own entertainment and we were always having adventures and getting up to mischief – a bit like the Famous Five but without a dog!  We would roam around the village or explore the basement.  My dad was a hoarder and had kept all sorts of stuff over the years including his own gas mask and some field phones from World War 2.  He had served in the army as a dispatch rider during the war in North Africa, mixing with Ameri...

More tea Vicar? #11

MORE TEA VICAR?     During the long summer holidays it was easy to get bored. As there was no public transport from Hoar Cross and no children living nearby, we three children had to make our own entertainment and we were always having adventures and getting up to mischief – a bit like the Famous Five but without a dog! We would roam around the village or explore the basement. My dad was a hoarder and had kept all sorts of stuff over the years including gas masks and field phones from World War 2. The old Servants Hall was now my dad’s workshop and he spent a lot of time down there restoring antiques to sell. He had one of the field phones in his workshop...

My Dad Bought a Mansion #1

MY DAD BOUGHT A MANSION!    It was the summer of 1970, Mungo Jerry was at the top of the hit parade and we were about to move house. But not to any old house – to a 70 roomed mansion in 20 acres of grounds! For years my dad had collected antiques, ever since he was a young boy of 12, and it was his dream to own a large house where he could put them on show to the general public. In the 1970s he owned the largest private collection of arms and armour in the country and his dream was about to be realised; but little did we know what a nightmare would unfold before us. Hoar Cross Hall was the home of the Meynell Ingram family who originated from Leicestershir...

Anyone for Tennis? #96

With the summer season well and truly upon us and Wimbledon almost here, I thought a blog about tennis might be in order!  The game of tennis first started in the Mediaeval days and involved hitting a ball with a bare hand and later with a glove.  By the 16th century the glove had become a racquet and the game had moved to an enclosed playing area and the rules had stabilized.  This was known as ‘real tennis’.  The word tennis came into use in English in the mid-14th century from French, via the Anglo-Norman term Tenez, which can be translated as 'hold', 'receive' or 'take', a call from the server to his opponent indicating that he is about to serve....

Hoar Cross Hall - a bit of history! #14

...ax in the summer months.  Man on horseback & "M" for Meynell topiary! The Elizabethan Gateway  Lady Dorothy’s daughter, also called Dorothy, was born in 1908 and was an accomplished pianist and conductor of the Hoar Cross choral society and had a life long interest in the arts and music.  She also played the pipe organ in the chapel at the Hall for the morning services there.  However, this young lady didn’t want to conform to the usual things of her society such as parties and husband hunting!  She begged her parents to let her train for some useful occupation and they finally agreed to let her train as a secretary in London....

Becoming A Rock Chick! #17

...  In the summer we left the back door open and visitors would wander outside and look at our pets – I imagine an over enthusiastic child had opened the hutch and not shut it properly as they escaped into the house and got into the library, it being the nearest room to the back door.  I happened to be coming into the house on this particular day when I heard a woman scream “Rats, rats – on the bookshelves!”  I rushed into the Library through the secret door (which made the visitors jump even more) to find them looking at our guinea pigs!  How could they think our lovely pets were rats?  However, we did get rats in the house but that’s for another b...