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Here comes the Bride (Part 2) #31

HERE COMES the BRIDE (Part 2):        And so our wedding day arrived bright and clear, all thoughts of solicitors, legals, fights and arrests behind us!   Myself and my bridesmaids went to get our hair done in the morning and Kev slapped a piece of steak on his jaw to bring the swelling down after the rather unfortunate fight at his stag do.  Fortunately, the bruise didn’t show up too much on the photos!  Gavin drove my dad’s Mercedes Benz car all the way down the drive and back up the road to the church – this was one of the drawbacks of having a church in your grounds; you don’t get to drive all through the town with everyone looking at you! ...

Temple Newsam and the Meynells

TEMPLE NEWSAM AND the MEYNELLS:     On 11th August 1863, Hugo Francis Meynell Ingram married the Hon. Emily Charlotte, daughter of Sir Charles Wood, Bart, afterwards 1st Viscount Halifax.  the Woods were an old gentry family, for many centuries respectable York merchants.  they were to turn grand upon the discovery of coal beneath their ancestral estates.  This was the great Barnsley field, with several hundred acres of Britain's deepest and finest coal.  Sir Charles Wood had a distinguished political career and they owned family seats at Garrowby, Pocklington, near York and Hickleton, near Doncaster.  they also owned a London house in Belgrave Square....

Like father, like sons #20

LIKE FAtheR, LIKE SONS:        As previously mentioned in earlier blogs my dad used to be a racing driver during the 1950s and ran his own team, Shardlow Motor Racing, in the 1960s, travelling all over Europe in his trusty Volkswagon van (see picture above) with his two mechanics and racing driver.   He didn’t have big sponsorship money behind him and most of it was done on a shoestring but he came back with lots of funny stories of their van breaking down or some rural ‘hotel’ that they had stayed in.  From each country that he visited he always brought me back a doll dressed in the traditional costume of that country.  there was quite a collectio...

the graveyard shift #24

the GRAVEYARD SHIFT:    Life carried on at Hoar Cross Hall as best it could in difficult circumstances.  My dad continued to go to Arms and Armour Fairs to buy and sell antiques and we also went to a mediaeval banquet in Cheshire one night, although it wasn’t anywhere near as good as ours!  Once or twice we took my dad out with our friends to Derby, where he originated from, and that seemed to cheer him up.  But he really needed to get away from the house for longer periods of time and when he saw a boat advertised for sale at Caernarvon he jumped at the chance and bought it.  It was an ex lifeboat called the Bembo so quite sturdy, although in need of a...

Eat, drink and be merry! #10

EAT, DRINK AND BE MERRY!       It was the end of the summer season at Hoar Cross Hall in 1973 and rehearsals had started for the new venture of Mediaeval Banquets when the cast would come round to the house each week to practice their routines. My mum and one or two other ladies were busy making the skirts and blouses for the wenches; my mum also made about 200 bibs which the guests were going to be wearing as eating five courses with a dagger can be quite messy! We had a King, a Jester, a Fire-eater, a Halberdier, an organist and various wenches and serving ladies. To launch the banquets my parents decided to hold a Press Reception about a month before and...

Like Father, Like Sons #19

LIKE FAtheR, LIKE SONS:    As previously mentioned in earlier blogs my dad used to be a racing driver during the 1950s and ran his own team in the 1960s, Shardlow Motor Racing, travelling all over Europe in his trusty Volkswagon van with his two mechanics and driver. He didn’t have big sponsorship money behind him and most of it was done on a shoestring but he came back with lots of funny stories of their van breaking down or some rural ‘hotel’ that they had stayed in. From each country that he visited he always brought me back a doll dressed in the traditional costume of that country. there was quite a collection and I still have them; I used to put the...