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The graveyard shift #24

...church at midnight.  As we were always coming in late from parties he asked us to help out after dark.  So there we were, meeting up with my dad in the middle of the night while he showed us which piece of furniture to carry out of the house.  Then we had to struggle with a chaise longue, traveller’s chest, games table, chairs or paintings (whatever he had sold that week) and carry it through the grounds, then through the churchyard, finally meeting with the buyer who was waiting with a large van in the lane!  The things you do to help out!  It was like being in the middle of an Agatha Christie novel – carrying a suspicious item through the graveyard by...

Eat, drink and be merry! #10

...mance. By midnight it was all over and the guests moved to the bar to await their lifts.   The cast with my mum in the Library c 1974   The cast, family and friends all sat by the fire when everyone had gone home to do a bit of a post mortem on the evening – discussing the pros and cons and how to do things a bit differently for the next banquet which was in a week’s time. We definitely decided to go easy on the beer and wine next time! Some of the cast stayed the night and helped clean up the next day. Although the banquets were good fun on the night they were also a lot of hard work next day as the whole house needed cleaning and the beautiful wo...

The Graveyard Shift #23

...church at midnight. As we were always coming in late from parties he asked us to help out after dark. So there we were, meeting up with my dad in the middle of the night while he showed us which piece of furniture to carry out of the house. Then we had to struggle with a chaise longue, traveller’s chest, games table, chairs or paintings (whatever he had sold that week) and carry it through the grounds, then through the churchyard, finally meeting with the buyer who was waiting with a large van in the lane! The things you do to help out! It was like being in the middle of an Agatha Christie novel – carrying a suspicious item through the graveyard by moonlight...

Mediaeval Mayhem! #11

...mance. By midnight it was all over and the guests moved to the bar to await their lifts.   Dave Kallos - fire-eater extraordinaire!   The cast, family and friends all sat by the fire when everyone had gone home to do a bit of a post mortem on the evening – discussing the pros and cons and how to do things a bit differently for the next banquet which was in a week’s time. We definitely decided to go easy on the beer and wine next time! Some of the cast stayed the night and helped clean up the next day. Although the banquets were good fun on the night they were also a lot of hard work next day as the whole house needed cleaning and the beautiful wood...

Like Father, Like Sons #19

...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, 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 them on display in the Library when our house was open...