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A New Year Calamity! #75

...ne joined hands to sing ‘Auld Lang Syne’.  Once all the traditional stuff was done the band started up again and we all did the Hokey Cokey, the Conga  and other silly dances that only happen on New Year’s Eve!  It was always great fun and I loved to dress up and mix with he adults. My parents were having a trial separation around this time so my dad had to run the New Year’s Eve Ball on his own.  I helped, as I had before, with the administration; posting out tickets and doing a bit of book-keeping.  The week prior to the Ball was spent moving furniture about and cleaning the house up after all the banquet tables and benches were removed.  We usu...

A New Year Calamity! #90

...ne joined hands to sing ‘Auld Lang Syne’.  Once all the traditional stuff was done the band started up again and we all did the Hokey Cokey, the Conga  and other silly dances that only happen on New Year’s Eve!  It was always great fun and I loved to dress up and be a part of it. Black tie and party hats!   My parents were having a trial separation around this time so my dad had to run the New Year’s Eve Ball on his own.  I helped, as I had before, with the administration; posting out tickets and doing a bit of book-keeping.  The week prior to the Ball was spent moving furniture about and cleaning the house up after all the banquet tables an...

Hallowe'en Hauntings #100

...nd joined hands; the candle was placed in the middle of the circle creating an eerie glow and making shadows dance in the corners.   The more experienced people did a bit of chanting and then they all waited to see what happened.   We carried on partying downstairs turning the music up loud – to be honest, I didn’t really want to know what was going on in the attic, that whole part of the building terrified me! The spiral staircase leading to the old nurseries   After about 30 minutes we ventured up the spiral staircase, next to the apartment, to see what was happening.  As we couldn’t hear anything we went a little further and peeked around t...

Whodunit in the Library? #26

...with his hands round my mum’s throat) so she had grabbed the nearest thing to her, which was the truncheon, and hit him over the head.  She had then locked him in the room until he calmed down, as she was fearful of his temper and the awful rages he would go into, then went to a neighbour’s house to keep out of the way!  My dad remained in the local hospital for at least a week.  An xray showed that there was nothing broken or cracked – incredibly!  How he survived I’ll never know but he was obviously made of tough stuff.  He’d survived poverty, a war, TB, losing a lung and the dangerous sport of motor racing so why not a knock on the head?  Bu...

See you in Court #28

...exchanged hands over the years – a small forest at least!   The Judge looked at it all with distaste. Each barrister gave their speech informing the Judge what their client wanted and how they should go about it.  After they had both finished and lots of paper shuffling had happened, the Judge looked at us all and said, “There’s only two people in this courtroom that are going to make anything out of this sorry state – and that’s you (dad’s barrister) and you (mum’s barrister)”.  He pointed at them both as he said it, as if they hadn’t already made a lot of money out of it! “Now go outside and sort it out between you. I’m going for lu...

The Schoolroom Maid's Story #34

...beautiful hands”.  The Long Gallery was the only family area where Inez went during her time at the Hall and this was when she attended the family at Christmas. Servants had little time for leisure, but occasionally a dance was held at Hoar Cross School, although there were very few young people in the village as most had to leave to find work. Inez left Hoar Cross for a better position with the Earl and Countess of Bradford at Weston Park.  She worked again as a schoolroom maid for their two young daughters, but without the responsibility of serving meals.  Various posts followed but not all of them in service.  Eventually she retired to Skegness where...