Story Search Results

A Bit Of Background #1

...g Room, a Chapel and a Library with secret doors!  How I loved it – I was a big fan of The Famous Five in those days and it really did feel like I was in the middle of one of their mysteries!  There were about 15 basement rooms some of which had had the floors removed due to damp rot but the main passageway was made of flagstones so you could still walk through it – this was where a lot of the male servants had slept and it was also where the wine cellars were along with linen storage space. In the attic a similar number of rooms were bare and empty and had once housed all the female servants.  Two spiral staircases joined all the floors together, one at...

Becoming A Rock Chick! #17

...BECOMING A ROCK CHICK:  My schooldays were coming to an end now and I absolutely couldn’t wait to leave.  The school itself was an old Victorian grammar school which still had wooden desks with inkwells in them!  Even the teachers wore their mortar boards and gowns, not like the ones at Eton and Harrow – mine were more like the ones in the Beano!  However, in the last two years there I had made a few good friends and we would go into Uttoxeter every lunch time to meet up with a group of guys that worked at the local JCB firm.  They were all into motor bikes and one of the first films I watched was ‘Easy Rider’.  They also went to a lot of concerts...

Becoming a rock chick #18

...BECOMING A ROCK CHICK:        My schooldays were coming to an end now and I absolutely couldn’t wait to leave.  The school itself was an old Victorian grammar school in Uttoxeter which still had wooden desks with inkwells in them!  Even the teachers wore their mortar boards and gowns just like the ones at Eton and Harrow – or the Beano!   However, in the last two years there I had made a few good friends and we would go into town every lunch time to meet up with a group of guys that worked at the local J. C. Bamford firm.  They were all into motor bikes and one of the first films I watched was ‘Easy Rider’.  They also went to a lot of concerts...

Hoar Cross Hall - Life below stairs #20

...ld in the Chapel in the house.  They were also expected to attend services at the church which had been built in the grounds; however, they weren’t allowed to walk down the drive to the church but had to make a detour around the perimeter of the grounds so that they wouldn’t be seen by the family! In the Victorian days a lowly housemaid earned about £10 a year compared to the house-keeper who earned the princely sum of £52 a year!  The staff at Hoar Cross were well treated it seems.  The family showed their concern towards the female members of staff if they wanted to leave the house to attend a local dance, and always made sure they were escorted to a...

Christmas High Jinks!

...CHRISTMAS HIGH JINKS:     The sounds of La Golondrina floated through the air as Viv sat at the grand piano.  How pleased she was that someone had asked them to look after this fine musical instrument for a few months.  Having learned to play when she was younger, this gave Viv the opportunity to brush up on her skills as a pianist and she was thoroughly enjoying it.  The piano was in the Library and suited the room perfectly.  She could hear her father and an antique dealer talking in the Long Gallery as they haggled over the price of a painting that he was selling.  Viv gazed out of the window as she played and thought back to the Midsummer’s Eve Bal...

Hoar Cross Hall - Life below stairs

...ld in the Chapel in the house.  They were also expected to attend services at the church which had been built in the grounds; however, they weren’t allowed to walk down the drive to the church but had to make a detour around the perimeter of the grounds so that they wouldn’t be seen by the family! In the Victorian days a lowly housemaid earned about £10 a year compared to the house-keeper who earned the princely sum of £52 a year!  The staff at Hoar Cross were well treated it seems.  The family showed their concern towards the female members of staff if they wanted to leave the house to attend a local dance, and always made sure they were escorted to a...