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What the Butler Saw! #35

...y-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 they didn’t get up to too much mischief when the butler wasn’t looking!    Don’t miss next week’s instalment: Gardeners World at Hoar Cross If you would like to follow my story from the beginning, click here and please feel free to share with y...

A Christmas Celebration #74

...her for a dance.  Molly blushed bright red but said ‘Yes’ as she really liked him – he was so tall and good looking, as were most footmen it seemed.  The evening was a huge success as the family mixed with the servants and estate workers and Molly found herself relaxing as she made new friends and enjoyed the food they’d spent so many long hours preparing.  Even Cook seemed to be enjoying herself as she chatted to Carter, although it could have been down to the numerous glasses of mulled wine they’d consumed!  As the band played on and the snow continued to fall, a lone bell rang out in the attic corridor and the sound of a giggling girl could be h...

A New Year Calamity! #75

...The New Year’s Eve Ball at Hoar Cross Hall was usually the highlight of the year.  After twelve months of hard work, especially running the Mediaeval Banquets twice a week through the winter, we were always ready to see out the year in style with a big new year party.  In those days it was always black tie for the men and long dresses for the ladies – usually around 500 people bought tickets for an evening of entertainment with a dance band, disco and a meal.  At midnight a man dressed in traditional Scottish regalia, including a kilt and sporran, would pipe in the new year with his bagpipes.  Down the Long Gallery he would slowly walk and into the Ballr...

Panto Pranks! #76

...ne of the dance routines along with a local man, Paul Yukes.  Kev and I were in control of the sound and we did tape recordings of the whole show which were sold afterwards to raise a bit more money (we still have one tape left!).  Everyone gave of their time freely and it was great fun to be involved. ‘ATV Today’ cameras were present for the dress rehearsal and a clip of three or four minutes on the television no doubt helped to boost the ticket sales.  The pantomime was on for three nights and had capacity audiences every night of 300 people.  A good profit was made and a donation went to the Prince Charles’ Appeal for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee F...

A Christmas Celebration #89

...her for a dance.  Molly blushed bright red but said ‘Yes’ as she really liked him – he was so tall and good looking, as were most footmen it seemed.  The evening was a huge success as the family mixed with the servants and estate workers and Molly found herself relaxing as she made new friends and enjoyed the food they’d spent so many long hours preparing.  Even Cook seemed to be enjoying herself as she chatted to Carter, although it could have been down to the numerous glasses of mulled wine they’d consumed!  As the band played on and the snow continued to fall, a lone bell rang out in the attic corridor and the sound of a giggling girl could be h...

Becoming a rock chick #16

...only seen dance bands at the New Year’s Eve Balls (yawn), even though I loved music. They opened my eyes (and ears) to a new type of music and always bought me a ticket for the next concert they went to but my mum would always say ‘No’, much to my disgust! Eventually I started dating one of the lads who was actually 21 so a bit older than my 16 years but as he was quite sensible my mother approved of him and eventually let me go to concerts with him. Over the space of a few months we saw Jack the Lad, Dr Feelgood and The Who. The Who were incredible and Keith Moon even smashed his drum kit up as their grand finale! We also went to this really cool place c...