Recollections

Random recollections of life at the Hall

Day One - what to do?

What do you do on day one of your new job at Ford Green Hall?  Ermmm, nothing, apparently. Pam was keen to get started in her new role but she was left completely alone. 

Nobody from the Museum Service of the City Council came to welcome her to the job, to help her settle into the role, and explain what what was required of her. Nobody.

No job description was forthcoming. No training was given or offered. No information about the Hall or any of its contents was provided. No help and advice on what to do in an emergency. No disaster plan (see Flood). Nothing. That's nothing for several months. Perhaps that's how councils were run in those days. 

So, what to do? Well, get on with it, ramp up the enthusiasm and let the learning begin - the Hall's history, furniture history, textile history, food history, architectural history, wood, heat and light, the way people lived, how to promote the Hall and how best to guide visitors around the property. A steep learning curve loomed.

Our long suffering car

During most our four years at Ford Green Hall we owned a bright red VW Golf Mk1. We parked it near the Hall just to the right as you look at it from Ford Green Road.  It was generally safe there and it suffered no break-in or theft, or wanton vandalism. But it did suffer three unusual incidents. 

Our long suffering car
Pictured in 1986 covered in cherry blossom petals

We recall the time on New Year's Eve 1984 when revellers, early on during the evening, were obviously having a wonderful time and had thrown caution to the wind. One of the party goers thought it would be a great idea to walk over the the top of car - jumping up the bonnet, onto and across the roof and to slide down the tailgate on the back end. Nasty scratches resulted, obviously.

To try to combat a repeat of this we hired a lock-up garage from the the chap who owned the petrol station opposite. The garage was one of about 10 at the rear of the  petrol station. It was in a rickety condition but it felt safe enough. But one wintry night early in 1985 a rather large snow fall descended. The weight of a good 6 inches of snow was just too much for the rusty corrugated steel roof of the garage. And it gave way. The roof fell in, complete with snow, and smothered the car. It was badly damaged and required extensive body repairs. The garage owner apologised but offered no help, financial or otherwise - "act of god".

Sometimes, during the day, we parked our car at the rear of the Hall on a driveway which was used by Nature Reserve maintenance people. One sunny afternoon we were out on our bikes taking a trip around the lake in the Nature Reserve. Half way round we heard the sound of a fire engine siren and saw it coming into the Reserve. Maybe they had been called to a grass fire (it had been a hot dry summer). But our car was blocking their way.  We tried to cycle back to them as fast as we could so we could move the car out of their way. But there was no need for us to panic. They had a solution. 6 strapping fire officers jumped out of their vehicle, simply lifted the car and manhandled it out of the way!  No damage done but we were just a tad embarrassed!

Removing the firemen's fingerprints!
1986

Visitors (interesting)

All sorts of people turned up at the big, oak front door of the Hall. Pam never knew who would be knocking to get in for the free tour. 

The Puddle

On one occasion a young couple arrived for the tour and Pam began her usual chat about the Hall and its contents but noticed that the guy was very fidgety and seemed uncomfortable. The tour proceeded but on reaching the kitchen, and without a word, he promptly peed himself. Quite a flood actually. Embarrassment. The Hall had no public toilets during the time we were there. But Pam, being the caring person she is, led him to our own bathroom 'so he could mop himself up'.  Then the couple promptly left and Pam was left to mop up the puddle. Oh, and clean our bathroom. Much disinfectant was used. That was, inevitably, the final tour that day.

The (Very) Strange Lady

Another visitor surprised us. The museum was open for guided tours, only. Pam was the only member of staff (known as 'lone working' and this would not be allowed today). Once visitors had been invited in for a tour the doors were locked.  A notice of opening times and what was going on was always posted on the door. 

One Sunday lunchtime, when the Hall was still closed (it opened at 2pm), loud and repeated knocking could be heard on the glass window of our personal entrance. This banging and thumping then shifted to the big oak front door with the big iron knocker. Repeated loud knocking was again heard. On and on. Someone wanted, even needed, a tour!

It suddenly went quiet and we tried to finish Sunday lunch (I think we had guests). But the culprit then appeared at 'our' door again and bang bang bang shout... An elderly, muttering, rather scruffy lady was the culprit.

Pam decided that the only thing to do was open earlier than usual to let the demanding visitor in. Through our window Pam persuaded her to go to the main entrance with the big oak front door. Our guests continued their lunch. The lady was accompanied by another woman so Pam reasoned that as since she wasn't alone on the premises, it would be safe enough and she would simply do the guided tour for the ladies. She let them in.

The strange lady talked, shouted and muttered during all of the visit. She may have mentioned ghosts and witches. On the tour she tried to open all the doors to the private rooms dotted about the building - actually our rooms (See Room Plan here - opens in new page.) Fortunately, for privacy and security, all these rooms were kept locked or we might never have got her out of our bedroom!

She calmed down a little and although Pam was still a bit worried she simply conducted the tour, moving from room to room as she would normally do. At the end the lady and her friend seemed happy with their visit and proceeded to leave. But just before she went, she rummaged in her large rumpled bag and brought out a gift - a big box of matches and a bundle of sticks! Oh!

Her words, as she presented Pam with these, were 'I like you, so I'm not going to burn the Hall down'. Kind of her. Phew!

Knock Knock, who's there?

The big, oak front door was often used as the main entrance. We say 'often' since the glass fronted side door on the brick wing to the right, as seen from the front,  was also used sometimes. The current entrance door, to the left of the Hall, was never used for visitors while we were there. It was the private entrance to our accommodation. 

The big, oak front door has a magnificent big, iron knocker and when it is used it creates an equally magnificent loud noise throughout the Hall.  It's a bit awkward to reach and kids found it difficult to use. Good news. But sometimes, mischievous teenagers would stretch to reach it and they loved to give it a good bashing to disturb the Hall's occupants (together with most of the occupants of Ford Green!).

Pam would always attend the knocking, during opening hours if a tour wasn’t taking place. And sometimes, of course, when she opened the big, oak front door the kids had scarpered. Such fun. One day, this fabulous game went on for quite a time and Pam was getting quite frustrated by it. She hatched a plan. A surprise was required.

Knowing that they would be back shortly after the last knock knock game Pam was waiting. As soon as the first thud arrived she swiftly opened the door and the miscreant literally fell off his perch and dropped headlong, flat on his face, into the porch. Lesson learnt. They didn’t do it again. 

Epilogue:  While he was looking up at Pam from the cold stone floor, and his mates were laughing their heads off, she asked "would you like to look inside?" No-one had ever asked them that before. "Ooooh, can we Miss?"  Of course! They were treated to the full tour. The lads were in awe. They had a thoroughly good time, interested in the Hall's history and its story.  These were the guys who now regarded the Hall as their own and from then on kept an eye on it. We had befriended them and they had befriended 'their' Hall. From then on they always called Pam, 'Miss'. We think these were the lads who organised getting an inflatable boat from a neighbour on the day of The 1987 Flood . We were then able to row across to the Hall to see what had happened inside.

 

Myths - The Tunnel and The Secret Panel?

We can confirm that there is no tunnel from Ford Green Hall to Stoke Church!

We can also confirm that the secret panel is actually not secret - you can see it!

Oh, we can confirm that there are no spirits, ghosts, witches, wizards or ghouls. Sorry! 

Toots Tales

Because it's there

Toots, our cat (once described as 'the colour of dust out of a hoover bag'!) came with us when we moved in. She soon got accustomed to her new surroundings. She was not a very friendly beast at the best of times but she followed us everywhere. And sometimes she did like to be adventurous. One of her 'trips' seriously worried us. She decided to go mountaineering. 

The three of us were enjoying the sun, sitting outside our kitchen at the rear of the hall, gazing across the Nature Reserve. Suddenly Toots stood up. She wanted adventure and set off, disappearing from sight. Not a problem, so far. 

Toots goes for walk

But somehow, we discovered later, she had managed to jump/climb onto the kitchen roof. And she wanted more! She was on a roll. From there she climbed higher and higher, eventually reaching the main roof the Hall, higher and higher still, and eventually reaching the ridge tiles. We've no idea how she did it. We didn’t see her actually do it. 

But now how do we get her to come down. Needless to say she didn’t respond to our calls. We seriously considered calling for help from the Fire and Rescue service but in the end, we decided to leave her entirely on her own, without fuss, hoping she'd find her own way back. She did. After several hours - when it had started to go dark. Phew, she lived to tell the tale.

Dogs and Cats don’t mix

Toots, our cat, had her own doorway to get in and out of our accommodation at the Hall. We invested in a cat flap. She soon learned how to use it and we were pleased that she did! 

However, unknown to us at the time (June 1985) during the 'Potters Fortnight' holiday period, local, irresponsible, dog owners let their dogs out to roam the Nature Reserve while they enjoyed themselves in Blackpool or wherever. Most of these random canines seemed to congregate in packs. Now as we know, dogs and cats don’t mix very well and Toots became a target of one of the packs. They had headed for Ford Green Hall looking for food, we assume, and who should they find flapping out of the cat flap, our poor old Toots. And they had a go at her. 

Fortunately Pam heard the commotion outside and went out to investigate. She was shocked to see our cat becoming a play thing of the pack. Toots had escaped their clutches and managed to clamber on top of the flood pump housing. Her training in mountaineering came in handy! Then, somehow, with the aid of a sweeping brush to fend off the dogs, Pam managed to rescue Toots and get her inside. She was in a mess, poor thing. Toots was suffering too. Without further ado Toots was bundled into her carrier and Pam set off to find the vet which she had phoned for help and advice (some vets take Potters Fortnight too). "Bring her in , we'll see her". The vet was in Trent Vale, miles away but Pam took the cat along. Fortunately apart from shock, bruises and a bit of bleeding from bites Toots was OK. Phew, she lived to tell the tale.

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