Story Search Results

Becoming A Rock Chick! #17

...d next to the library.  In the summer we left the back door open and visitors would wander outside and look at our pets – I imagine an over enthusiastic child had opened the hutch and not shut it properly as they escaped into the house and got into the library, it being the nearest room to the back door.  I happened to be coming into the house on this particular day when I heard a woman scream “Rats, rats – on the bookshelves!”  I rushed into the library through the secret door (which made the visitors jump even more) to find them looking at our guinea pigs!  How could they think our lovely pets were rats?  However, we did get rats in the house but...

Becoming a rock chick #18

...d next to the library.  In the summer we left the back door open and visitors would wander outside and look at our pets – I imagine an over enthusiastic child had opened the hutch and not shut it properly because they escaped into the house and got into the library, it being the nearest room to the back door.  I happened to be coming into the house on this particular day when I heard a woman scream “Rats, rats – on the bookshelves!”  I rushed into the library through the secret door (which made the visitors jump even more) to find them looking at our guinea pigs!  How could they think our lovely pets were rats?  However, we did get rats in the house...

the haunting of Hoar Cross Hall #15

...the HAUNTING OF HOAR CROSS HALL:       (Based on a true story)   the typewriter keys clattered away as Viv wrote her story.  It was coming along nicely and she was feeling pleased with herself.  the attic room that she and her brothers had made into their ‘den’ was ideal for getting away from everybody and having some peace and quiet and she quite forgot about the time as she lost herself in the plot.  Suddenly she looked up and realised how dark it was getting; the December nights were pulling in and it was already quite dusky by 3.30pm.  Quickly she packed her books and folders away and prepared to go downstairs.  How she hated being up in the a...

Hoar Cross Hall - a bit of history #13

...HOAR CROSS HALL - A BIT OF HISTORY:       Hoar Cross was part of Needwood Forest, the 11th century lands of Henry de Ferrers. the land was passed down to Henry’s son and subsequent various people over the course of 500 years ending with the Webb family, around the 1730s, who bought the land and house known as the Manor of the Cross. This was quite a large house built on a hill near Yoxall (which is the village next to Hoar Cross). In 1740 the manor house was demolished and later the Hon. Charles Talbot bought the estate for £17,000. Eventually it was sold to Hugo Meynell, who already owned huge amounts of property all over the county. This branch of the...

Alice - the ghost in the mirror

...ALICE – the GHOST IN the MIRROR:       In 1865 Lewis Carroll wrote another story about Alice following on from ‘Alice in Wonderland’.   It was called ‘Alice through the Looking Glass’.  In this story Alice climbs onto the mantlepiece over the fireplace in her lounge and finds that she can climb through the mirror into another world which is reversed, just like a reflection.  Once again, she encounters strange figures in a world dominated by a chess set and nursery rhyme characters, among others.  But what inspired Lewis Carroll to write about a little girl having lots of adventures? In the 1850s Charles Dodgson (Carroll’s real name) studied...

Becoming a rock chick #16

...d next to the library. In the summer we left the back door open and visitors would wander outside and look at our pets – I imagine an over enthusiastic child had opened the hutch and not shut it properly because they escaped into the house and got into the library, it being the nearest room to the back door. I happened to be coming into the house on this particular day when I heard a woman scream “Rats, rats – on the bookshelves!” I rushed into the library through the secret door (which made the visitors jump even more) to find them looking at our guinea pigs! How could they think our lovely pets were rats? However, we did get rats in the house but that�...