Story Search Results

Whodunit in the Library? #25

...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 #27

...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 #33

...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 she spen...

The Kitchen Maid's Story #34

...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 got (equ...

What the Butler Saw! #35

...ake their hands to help them down the steps when they got home. I can hear all the giggling even now! I'm sure the butler saw a lot of things that he wasn't supposed to see – above stairs and below! The highlight of the year for most girls was an eagerly-awaited dance at the Servants’ Ball at Christmas time – most large houses had one and Hoar Cross Hall was no different. The Ball was held in the Long Gallery and this was the one time when the family mixed with the servants. With mulled wine flowing freely and mistletoe hung here about, the young ladies of the house would be very excited to be standing near to a young, good looking footman! Let’s hope t...

Doing up a stately home #4

...DOING UP A STATELY HOME:     We moved into Hoar Cross Hall during the summer holidays and my parents quickly realised that they had a lot of work on their hands to make the place habitable as well as to earn some money from it. As previously mentioned, there was an East Wing and a West Wing to the house. My dad decided to convert the first floor rooms of each wing into three separate apartments; he had done this at our previous house. This would generate income from rents until we got the main house open to the public. It wasn’t a big job to convert the rooms as the East Wing had four main rooms and two bathrooms already there, which would have been used as...