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Motor Racing Days #64

Although my blogs are about living at Hoar Cross Hall, I would just like to give a bit of background about my dad’s Motor racing career in the years leading up to moving to the Hall as this will set the scene for later instalments of my story.  With the Silverstone Grand Prix recently in the news, I thought this would be quite topical! As mentioned my dad used to be a Motor racing driver but he actually started off racing Motor cycles in the 1930s.  Because of this he became a despatch rider during the Second World War and spent a lot of time in North Africa.  After the war he started racing Motor bikes at nearby Donington Park and he raced there up to the...

Motor Racing Days #8

Motor RACING DAYS:     Although my blogs are about living at Hoar Cross Hall, I would just like to give a bit of background about my dad’s racing career in the years leading up to moving to the Hall as this will set the scene for later instalments of my story. As mentioned in my first blog my dad used to be a racing driver but he actually started off racing Motor cycles in the 1930s. Because of this he became a despatch rider during the Second World War and spent a lot of time in North Africa. After the war he started racing Motor bikes at nearby Donington Park and he raced there up to the beginning of the 1950s. After that he moved onto cars and drove a C...

Motor Racing Days #9

Motor RACING DAYS Although my blogs are about living at Hoar Cross Hall, I would just like to give a bit of background about my dad’s racing career in the years leading up to moving to the Hall as this will set the scene for later instalments of my story. As mentioned in my first blog my dad used to be a racing driver but he actually started off racing Motor cycles in the 1930s. Because of this he became a despatch rider during the Second World War and spent a lot of time in North Africa. After the war he started racing Motor bikes at nearby Donington Park and he raced there up to the beginning of the 1950s. After that he moved onto cars and drove a Cooper 5...

Motor Racing Days #9

Although my blogs are about living at Hoar Cross Hall, I would just like to give a bit of background about my dad’s racing career in the years leading up to moving to the Hall as this will set the scene for later instalments of my story. As mentioned in my first blog my dad used to be a racing driver but he actually started off racing Motor cycles in the 1930s. Because of this he became a despatch rider during the Second World War and spent a lot of time in North Africa. After the war he started racing Motor bikes at nearby Donington Park and he raced there up to the beginning of the 1950s. After that he moved onto cars and drove a Cooper 500cc (which is the...

Celebrating VE Day #94

As a way of commemorating V. E. Day I have re-posted my blog from November's Remembrance Day which tells of the sacrifice that the men of the Meynell family made during both world wars as well as the many thousands of others who took part.  During the two World Wars the Meynell family of Hoar Cross Hall served their country alongside many others from all walks of life.  After each war there was huge social upheaval, especially for women, who had been doing what was traditionally 'men's work' during the war and weren't prepared to go back to domestic roles.  At the time of the First World War Frederick Meynell and Lady Mary Meynell were living at the Hall with...

Race Day Parties! #25

My dad used to be a racing driver so he was often invited to parties and open days at various racing circuits. He naturally knew lots of racing people and on this particular occasion he was invited to an Open Day at Donington Park. Tom Wheatcroft, a local entrepreneur, had bought Donington Park in the 1970s as he owned the largest collection of Grand Prix cars in the world at that time. In 1973 he opened a museum there to house them all and called it the Donington Grand Prix Exhibition.  This sadly closed in 2018. Donington became the favoured home of the British round of the MotoGP Motorcycling championships but he was really hoping to bring Formula 1 racing b...