Category: Family

The Tour Continues

We are now on the first floor landing, above where you entered the hall earlier. The surrounds and pediments above the doors are eye-catching as is the plasterwork in the centre of the ceiling. The chandelier is Waterford glass bought inexpensively in Venice at the end of the 19th century. The door at the end… Continue reading The Tour Continues

Uncle George Remembers XIX

“At the coronation of King George VI there had been a moment of hesitation at a very important point in the ceremonies which could have been embarrassing but for the presence of mind of the then Archbishop of Canterbury (Cosmo Gordon Lang).

Daydream Believer

Quentin Letts is a prolific journalist; he’s been at it for more than thirty years. These days his mainstays are as a theatre critic for The Sunday Times and parliamentary sketch writer for The Times. Both jobs require much the same skills.

A Trunk Call

Four years ago my cousin took me out on the Solent on his trimaran. He asked me again on Sunday.

Uncle George Remembers XVIII

“I think it was Sir Walter Scott who wrote the lines, ‘One flooded hour of glorious life, Is worth an age without a name’*, and I think I know exactly what he meant. I once felt like that myself, if only for a fleeting moment.

A Big Cake

On 17 January 1855, Sir Humphrey de Trafford married Lady Annette Mary Talbot, eldest sister and co-heiress of Bertram Talbot, 17th Earl of Shrewsbury. The ceremony took place in Rugby, Worcestershire, and was performed by William Bernard Ullathorne, Bishop of Birmingham. It was reportedly the first Roman Catholic nuptial mass to be performed in England… Continue reading A Big Cake

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Keep Safe

A small squidgy parcel popped through the letter box yesterday. It contained four face masks adorned with the Bellew arms: sable, fretty or.

Not Just A Name

10th August, 1941. Church in the morning. In the evening Bertie Fisher came over to discuss future CO of 17th Lancers, to replace one that had just been killed in an aeroplane accident. (War Diaries, Field Marshal Lord Alanbrooke)