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Here comes the bride (Part 1) #30

HERE COMES THE BRIDE (Part 1)   Our wedding preparations were going quite well.  As we knew lots of musicians it wasn’t hard to find a local band and a DJ to do the disco.  A friend of my dad’s offered to do the catering and the bar was set up with plenty of kegs from the local brewery in Burton on Trent.  I had two bridesmaids and we all went to Birmingham one day to choose our dresses and shoes – it was all kept very simple really as I had no help or advice from my mum as most brides do.   Kev’s parents had eloped after the war and got married in a register office with two witnesses dragged off the street, so they had no idea what you did to pla...

Mediaeval Mayhem! #13

...a lot of champagne flowing and the newspapers and radio stations turned up to take lots of photos of us all in various poses and record interviews with the cast (see header picture).  It was a lovely, warm Autumn day and many of the photos were taken outdoors. I remember it turning out to be quite a party, even though it started at 9.30 in the morning; as the day wore on the organist started playing a few of the songs we would be doing at the banquets, and everyone started dancing and singing along – it was 4pm by the time we finished! And so arrived the day of the first banquet. All the furniture and costumes from the Chinese Room and Ballroom had been rem...

The Tax Man Cometh #29

...ottles of champagne that my dad had been saving for years! The year was now 1980 and we set a date in August, a couple of months before my dad had to leave. It was strange having to meet up with the vicar who we had had such a fall out with when we were youngsters, when we had lit all the candles in the church one day to brighten it up. I hoped he didn’t remember! I also hoped he didn’t know that it was Gavin and I who had sabotaged the many Christmas and Easter high teas at the vicarage after the church services, when we would take the sandwiches apart and put them back together in a different order! The Vicarage at Hoar Cross We also had the added pr...

Here comes the bride (Part 2)

...ottles of champagne that he had been saving for all those years and put them on our table.  After a while he noticed that everyone was happily drinking the cheaper pomagne, which we had bought for the toast, so he took all the bottles back upstairs to his room!  We didn’t even get one for ourselves! Later on we had the speeches and, as I said, our best man was in the entertainment industry and did a magic act.  As he did his speech, he incorporated some of his tricks into the talk and guests were treated to bunches of flowers being pulled from his sleeve and strings of hankies appearing from nowhere.  Finally a dove magically appeared from a hat and flew...

Midnight Pool Parties # 59

...shings of champagne, courtesy of our friend, who would then play Frank Sinatra songs very loudly on his stereo.  One young lady always liked to do a fan dance to The Stripper and this seemed to keep the young men amused. Alas, the neighbours complained about the noise on one occasion and reported the shenanigans to our friends’ parents.  Pool parties were thereafter banned for quite a while! All the people renting our apartments were now young men and women and they soon became part of the crowd in the Meynell.  Every weekend would find us all creeping along the basement passage to one flat or another for a party – at least no-one could hear us; the wal...

Motor Racing Days #64

...ottles of champagne which he said he was keeping for me when I got married!  But that’s another story! When Gavin was older my dad encouraged him to race too and he went on to run his own World Championship Team travelling all over the world.  He also took Piers go-kart racing at nearby Chasewater Park in Cannock – more about that in future blogs!   If you would like to follow my story from the beginning, click here and please feel free to share with your friends.  Follow me on a personal tour of my childhood home on YouTube.OUT NOW!!  'My Dad Bought a Mansion' book is available on Amazon.    ...