Search This Blog

Wednesday 30 December 2015

It felt like I'd met a long lost relative...

A funny thing happened at a Cancer Council Morning Tea. A fellow parishioner, Colleen, and I got talking about family history. As I explained my Kerr tree to her she said "I used to know some Kerrs". Instead of pursing her old Kerr neighbours she recalled knowing a man Jimmy who was a colleague her father's at the railways and who lived at Neutral Bay.  As a child they used to go there for Hogmanay (Scottish New Year). I finished her sentence. "His wife's name was Lavinia and his kids were Alf and Billie".

It turns out her sisters and parents spent a lot of time holidaying and socialising with my grandparents. My Nanny generously gave them a money gift for New Year. My Uncle Bill remembered the rowdy Hogmanay New Years parties he longed to be away from and the holidays to the Woy Woy on the Central Coast as the railways families took advantage of their holiday railway passes.
June and Colleen c 1948
 Sadly I had known her mother Peggy too but never knew of this link with my grandparents history.
Colleen and I agreed to get together to share memories and and help me identify some  photos if possible.
My Nanny Lavinia with Margaret (Peggy) Campbell and little Colleen

She had photos of my Grandfather James and we identified photos of the holidaying Campbell Family including little Colleen.

I felt I had grasped a little more of my family story and that she was like a a long lost relative.

Hugh Campbell with Colleen and June  and James "Jimmy"Kerr right
A bit of a mystery woman, I had been channelling my Nanny who died when I was 4 for weeks. -revisiting her Church, Convent workplace and her home.  Well done Nanny- could you please send me some hints about your mother? 

Sunday 27 December 2015

DNA - a new Ancestry journey



So my husband and I bought ourselves genealogy DNA testing kits for Christmas. What else?
You all know I’m a family history addict.  I’ve got a lot of stories and branches of the family tree on the go. In addition I have made great progress during the year moving back a couple of hundred years with some lines. 

Along the way i have made several discoveries about my ancestors (Kerrs, Gadsbys, Murphys, Johnstones etc) and those of the Fords, Hudsons, Cassidys. In determining our ancestral lines it has  thrown up several questions about our longer term pedigees- Yes the ancestors spent years in the same country even county. The dark skin, red hair and family whispers still pose questions. Were they Nordic invaders or Black Spanish marauding the Irish. More recently I suspect we  have  refugees from religious oppression from some parts of Europe.

I’ve searched parish records, cemeteries, newspapers, Births, deaths and marriage certificates. Even so I have hit some road blocks. Having heard DNA information expands your Genealogical research we’ve ordered the spitcups and we getting ready to send in our saliva.

I’ve no idea how it all works and if indeed it will throw up anything of interest. 

Perhaps I should have done a little research before I bought but Ancestry had a special and so on and so forth. 

Watch this space –it takes six to eight weeks.

Friday 25 December 2015

Being at War at Christmas 100 years ago....let's remember

I thought as it was 100 years ago these photos might be of interest. I believe these photos were taken around Christmas probably to send to those back home in England.

Featured in these photos are members of the Lancashire Fusiliers "still happy in 1915" According to James' son Michael the LF's were in Gallipoli for Christmas 1915.

Two of these injured soldiers were my husband's grandfather James Edward Cassidy and his mate and future brother-in-law Harry Duckworth of Bury England.  James who enlisted on 3rd September 1914 (aged 21 yrs) - Private 280583 was a member of  1st Seventh Lancashire Fusiliers. James was injured in June 1915 after arriving in early May 1915 in Gallipoli. His injury was to the head, arm and heart- his heart being saved by a medal in his tunic pocket. After being in hospital in Malta for 6 weeks he returned to Gallipoli until Christmas 1915. James' full story is published in November 2014 of this blog.

Merry Christmas to all my readers


Robyn

Wednesday 9 December 2015

Kerr Cousins- a tangible entertainment legacy! (Music Hall Story Part 4)


The McBride cousins were from  my paternal Great Grandmothers side. My direct line- the Kerrs had a minor involvement in the Music Hall scene. My Dad’s cousins Ann and Mary Kerr,  own  a 1926 theatre poster advertising the  Palace Theatre in Lawn St Paisley. Great Uncle Frank Kerr was billed  in a variety act  under the stage name of "Frank E Rayner" (E Rayner being the  name of an  Australian relative). He was one of the many who performed as a Hebrew impersonator at the time. I can’t help thinking he would be run out of town in these politically correct times.

He was billed along side  acts such as King and Bentley, a natural conversationalist, “clever comedian” Nicholas Rimsky , and the Gordon Brothers Acrobatics Act. The mind boggles at the concept of a “funny acrobatic Chinese act “ and a Hebrew impersonator  being played in the 1920s in Glasgow. Frank went on to become a Cinema/ Theatre manager. In the early days of motion pictures the films were promoted by personal appearances by the stars.
Dame Anna Neagle's personal appearance promoting her movie  "Sixty Glorious Years" (Frank to her left)




Frank Kerr on stage with Herbert Wilcox (l) and Anton Walbrook (r) on the Bedford stage

 Sadly he met an early death on Christmas Day 1953 as a result of an accident at the Cinema.




 James Kerr (my Grandfather) top left in a Scottish Minstrel band c1920s

My grandfather James Kerr, is  pictured here playing in a Scottish minstrel band before he left Scotland for Sydney. One assumes this was a weekend job or he was part of an amateur performance band.  A letter written to my Nanny, Lavinia Kerr nee Strelley who was still back in Glasgow at the time, tells of a young James newly arrived in Sydney looking for employment and of his frustration at missing out on one job because they needed him for singing and dancing!


I'm told that music and singing is the "Scottish way". The Sydney Kerrs became audiences not performers. My uncle, Billy Kerr, recalls the family regularly visiting the Burns Club in Sydney to enjoy the entertainment and friendship. He  remembers  the ruckus of the Scottish New Year celebrations when he was growing up. He remembers the visitors staying over because they had sung and drunk whiskey all night. I think his words were “passed out all over the lounge room”.


James singing a Scottish tune during his retirement cruise to his homeland in Scotland. This was to be a catch up with remaining McBride relatives  (1960s)


There was an old piano in James and Lavinia’s house at 35 Park Ave Neutral Bay. It was supposedly purchased because my Dad had a hankering to play and he had short lived lessons as a child. I had never seen him show any interest when it was moved to our house after James' death. The banjo from the minstrel band found its way to the family home too where they lay abandoned and forgotten until my father's death.

No-one ever learnt  to play my grandfather’s piano. I think most of my clan were standing well behind the stage door when the creative arts were given out. Some of James’ Great Grandaughters enjoyed amateur performances of various musicals during their school days.  In the end, even though the great grandkids were fighting over who would have it, the old and neglected piano would never get played by anyone related to the surname Kerr. We sold it with the house. 

And what of my grandfather’s banjo that hadn’t seen the light of day for 40 years? Well that’s the good news story. An expert in the field told us it was hand built and would fetch $20,000 (£10,000) if we had it restored. Now that’s an entertainment legacy!!

Saturday 21 November 2015

McBride siblings- Greasepaint in their veins ( Music Hall Story part 3)


Cornelius wasn’t the only McBride to “tread the boards” .  Along the way he would see many of his family joining the stage with their own variety acts. In fact some married others they met in the theatre.   Their was certianly greasepaint flowing through the veins of the McBrides.

Sadly the youngest sister died just as she was in her prime. Jeannie  McBride was born in 1904. She was mentioned in the April 13, 1916 Stage archive as appearing with others at the Olympia and was described as “is a smart dancer”. Apparently she did impersonations of the “Great Vesta Tilly” a popular and famous male impersonator. Unfortunately, not long after this article was printed she succumbed to meningitis and died in August 1916. Her oldest brother Neil was the informant. It must have broken all their hearts.

Michael McBride born 1889 married Glasgow girl  Margaret (Mary) Kerr  in 1916. At the time of her marriage, Mary described herself as a music hall artiste. She had been shown as a professional singer in the families 1911 census return. Later, Michael, an engineer’s machine man, joined with “Mary Oliver” to become part of the comedy routine “Oliver and Mack”.

By 1920 they had had two children Sarah known as Sally McBride and Cornelius. As tradition has it Sally was a tap dancer who performed with her parents before leaving for Canada.

1924 saw them play at the Tivoli in Aberdeen, in the popular “Hop Scotch” which was a lively show full of amusing burlesques, catchy songs and smart dances. Here Oliver and Mack played beside his younger brother, James in the partnership of Carr and Finch.

Oliver and Mack were in popular demand in the late 1920s playing at Bernstein theatres, East Ham and West Ham and  Gaumont Canterbury Music Hall to name a few. They are playing together in 1940 at the Olympia in Dublin. In another show “Scotland Calling” the comedy elements were much appreciated in this “bright show “. At another time it was reported that they sailed from Southhampton via the RMS “Edinburgh Castle” to fulfil an engagement with African Theatres booked by IVTA Ltd.

Not a lot is known about James McBride b 1894 who worked under the name of "Jimmy Finch". He lived with his wife Madge (Margaret) E Reynolds who he married in 1921 at the age of 26. At this time he must have been gainfully employed in the theatre as he describes himself as a Music Hall artiste in his wedding documentation.  Madge’s stage name was "Mrs Finch" and she was still living at 28 Osborne Street in Glasgow in the 1970s. Jimmy was known to have performed with Billy Adams at the Palladium, Edinburgh and was described as a clever comedian. At another time he teamed up with Jack Carr and a gang of singing youngsters in 1927.


Of course, "Finch and Carr" worked with "Oliver and Mack" as fellow comedians in “Hop Scotch” which toured the UK.  One report has Jimmy Finch still working in September 1946 with John Walker where they were again described as clever comedians. It is also noted that his partner left him to work with Mary Oliver’s brother as part of Hayes and Austin who was born  Augustine Kerr and performed under the stage name "Jimmie Austin".

Arthur McBride b 1903 followed in his older sibling’s footsteps. In a tribute to “The 60 Glory Years of the Glasgow Pavilion” in 1964 he was mentioned as being associated with this theatre through performances in the Tommy Morgan Show. Arthur was a 22 year old singer who performed under his own name and as a variety artiste at the time of his marriage to Jemima Barclay McNeill in 1925. Jemima McBride worked under the name of "Mima McBride" and was possibly Mima McNeill, a dancer and  variety artist who later went on to work as a wardrobe mistress. In 1934 Arthur appeared at the Edinburgh Royal in Tommy Morgan’s “Laughter in the Roar” alongside Tommy Morgan, Tommy Yorke , Jerome and Kay, 12 Morganettes etc.  He continued to live in the family home at 10 Roslea Avenue, Glasgow  died in 1972.


Neil Power - Cornelius McBride's Scottish Comedy duo (Music Hall story part 2 )

Cornelius McBride  k/a Neil Power (photo courtesy collinsvariety.co.uk)
Cornelius McBride was the oldest of the McBride clan. He was born in Glasgow in 1887. .At the time of 1911 census  he was listed as an unemployed 25-year-old living at home with mum, Elizabeth (Lizzy), dad. Cornelius (Neil) and the family.

Such was the fortunes of this ex spirit merchant salesman/ performer who chased openings on the Scottish theatre circuit. He performed under the stage name of Neil Power and worked with Hillier and Hayes. He  was also the long-time partner of Bert Benton in the comedy duo Power and Benton.

 His comedy act with Bert Benton was a “nationwide bill topper” in the days when variety was hard-working and sincere. Neil married Louisa Stout of Lambeth in 1923. It is quite possible he met her through the theatre as music hall artists Mary and Ernest Silly were boarding with her mother at the time of the 1911 Census.  They are both described as “Artistes” in their travel documentation.  There is a record of Louisa and Cornelius travelling back from New York in 1924 and back from South Africa in 1928.

In 1925 Neil Power and Bert Benton, performing at the Hippodrome in Leeds received high praise as “a couple of talented laughter makers” in a review entitled “Star Struck”. This seems to be where they introduced their famous skit  “Mend the Door”. Bert’s catch phrase of “I’m only an apprentice!” made thousands laugh. (I can hear him saying it with all the gravity and timing it required for the effect.) The skit goes along the lines of attempting to mend some sort of door. They performed this act regularly amongst much audience mirth and laughter. It was described in the Variety Stage on 11 August 1921 as “admirably conceived and played in capital fashion by the artists concerned”.

The production, which had opened to acclaim, had had a large amount of money spent on the staging. It was said to have “a considerable amount of brainwork, much time and pain, good taste and a flair for heating the public fancy”. Although it had no semblance of a story Power and Benton and their fellow artists contributed to the general scheme of things doing several skits.

The review opens with Power and Benton doing a Railway Station Scene followed later by a Hospital Scene with Power and Benton as the doctor and patient and Carrie Kasric as a nurse. The scene goes along these lines. The patient is recalling stories of the instruments left in bodies after a procedure when the absent-minded doctor returns and asks for his misplaced umbrella. It was described as “cleverly done and highly amusing”.

This was followed by a Waxworks Exhibition Scene and a Recording Room Scene has Power and Benton giving an old and new version of “Annie Lawrie”  to much laughter. The scenes are interspersed by dancing and singing acts so the boys were pretty busy on stage.  On another occasion at the Bedford, Camden Town they play a great part of the 14 scene revue called “Show Life”. One scene has them as a couple of gas fitters in a Factory Scene but other humerous  scenes include  a Customs Office Scene and  a Rich Aunt sketch set in  a bullfight !



In 1927 they were the principal comedians in “Yes Yes Princess” at the Hippodrome, Brighton.  “The Romance of the Navy “ played all over the UK and was described as “an enormous success” in the trade journal “The Stage”.  In 1929 they announced their new routine which was described as “as good as anything they have ever done, packed with good fun on beginning to end”. By 1931 they were still playing together at Sheffield Empire in a lively sparkling show called “Good Bye Blues”.


The partnership ended. Bert went on to work with Billy Hayes as residents of the Edinburgh Palladium. Billy Hayes was the brother of Mary Oliver  (Margaret Kerr) who had married Neil’s brother, Michael.

A short  2 minute silent film on SCRAN  can be found at  http://scotlandonscreen.org.uk/database/record.php
(Search Power and Bendon)

This clip called “Buying a Horse” is a silent film black and white comedy sketch of the two music hall comedians where they go to buy a horse  out of a line up they decide upon a pantomine horse who creates mischief.

The website http://collinsvariety.co.uk/fred/  has details, scripts  and photos of Power and Bendon from their Mother Goose Days.
Neil Power and his comedy partner Bert Bendon (photo courtesy of  collinsvariety.co.uk)



After the death of Bendon in 1964 it was reported that Power was also deceased. However, this was retracted when he let journalists know  that he was alive and living in 14 Clenerow Road Clapham, London at age 78. “I’m living here in happy retirement in Clapham” he told Gordon Irving of The Stage.

Electoral records show that Neil and Louisa had left Glasgow quite early on  and based themselves around London. Neil died in 1967 in Lambeth Surrey 8 years after Louisa’s death.




Treading the Boards- Scottish Music Hall and Variety Theatre

Vaudeville or Music Hall theatre was a popular form of entertainment from the 1880s. Several nights a week people from the more “polite society” used to crowd to theatres across UK and Scotland to be entertained by performances from music hall artistes who toured the country with acts and shows which sometimes toured the show circuit for several years. Theatres included the Hippodrome, Palladiam, Orpheum, Glasgow Pavillion etc. In Glasgow city alone around 1900 there were 26 theatres alone but not much is written about Scottish Music Hall and Variety Theatre.

A night at the theatre usually saw people enjoying a series of separate acts of dance, singing,comedy skits, impersonators and musicians. Sometimes the acts included magicians, jugglers, animal acts and acrobats. People would return week after week to hear their favourite songs and artists.

Often the circuit included extended family members- sisters, brothers, spouses, children. Imagine family members performing nightly with their small children sleeping in the props box. It wouldn’t be long before the kids were conscripted to perform an act of their own or tag along as back stage helpers.


These live performances declined with the growth of the silent movie and talking pictures and further still with the advent of free broadcast television in people’s own homes. Some vaudevillians found a home in variety television.

My vaudevillian family history came to life from a chance letter found in a box of papers collected at the family home. While the letter was essentially trying to find the legal recipients of an inheritance the solicitors had asked the right person - my aging Great Uncle Alf who was able to detail all his vaudevillian cousins, their Scottish address and their stage names.

Greasepaint must have been running through the McBride’s veins. Cornelius McBride was possibly the most famous of the McBride clan. 

Next blog  Cornelius McBride as Neil Power



Monday 26 October 2015

Waingroves Hall Derby




The planets must have been aligning.... at Waingroves Hall.

Greg Strelley a distant cousin sent me a message the day before our visit to Derbyshire. Could we delay our departure from Derby and stay an extra morning? He wanted to show us something.
Waingroves Hall was being auctioned and there was to be an open for inspection while we were there. Waingroves Hall is situated in Codnor Denby Lane in Ripley and was certainly on our “to do” list. I envisaged a trip up the farm roads and a few snaps over the fence. 

How special on this trip from Australia to actually see inside the ancestral home of my 4x great grandparents Robert and Elizabeth Strelley situated in the Derbyshire mining town of Waingroves. 

Waingroves has been known in many ways throughout history. The earliest name being Waingrif or Waingriff in 1147. Later it was Wayngriff, Wayngreve or Wayngrene in the 1400s as well as Wingreayes. Today this Derbyshire mining area is known as Waingroves with the land divided into a Waingroves Hall and Waingroves Farm. The land had had a long history. In 1147 Ralph Fitz Stephen bestowed lands in Waingroves in the parish of Pentrich to the Knights Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem They were to use the house which would be built.

Our family connections with the land come through the Claytons and the Strelleys. 

Waingroves Hall and the surrounding farm was initially put up for Richard(2), son of Richard Clayton(1) of Codnor Breach, who died around 1697. It was severely damaged by fire in the early 1700s. The property seems to have been inherited by his granddaughter, Elizabeth who was eldest daughter of Richard(3) Clayton and Elizabeth Lee. Richard had died in 1782.

Robert Strelley had married Elizabeth Clayton in 1768. It was Robert Strelley who was responsible for the building of the present Waingroves Hall in the late 1700s. It is assumed this house was built from the ground up over the top of the old Elizabethan/Jacobean original Clayton House.
This rectangular three storied, six bedroomed Georgian country house is reached by way of a long shared driveway. Its symmetrical facade is typical of Georgian architecture with its panelled windows. There are two gables at either end of this roughly square house. The entrance front upper floor windows have rusticated key blocks carved with sun, moon, owls and the arms of Strelley. 
 
Front entrance to the Hall with newer Victorian entrance and carved key blocks

Waingroves Hall - side view

Back on that sunny August day in 2014, armed with  notebooks and cameras five Strelley descendants  entered the Grade II heritage listed house and took a once in a lifetime “good old look around” at this stylish old Georgian country house once inhabited by Robert Strelley and his family.
It is set in woodland gardens of approximately two acres with the gardens and lawn to the south and east. The gardens, although largely overgrown show signs of feature lawns and remnants of an orchard. The large areas of secluded woodland have many mature trees and shrubs and there is a small lake. The trees and lake are brimming with birds and wild life.  Behind the house are the Waingroves Farm and a small farm cottage  across the drive which probably housed  the servants All originally part of the Robert’s estate.
Woodland and lake

One of the property's mature trees

Side garden
 We approach through the circular driveway. A symmetrical red brick building with brick and stone dressings stands majestically. There are initials on the lintels referring to Robert and Elizabeth “SRE 1791” and a diamond shaped date stone above the door inscribed S with an R and E 1800.

There are remnants of some of the ornamentation in the garden. At first thought to be foundations of famous obelisk under which Robert is said to have buried his horse Monument. It’s deemed not to be the obelisk base but the semi hidden ornament however has Robert’s initial carved in it so that builds the excitement. Being the site of the old medieval manor house of the Knights Hospitallers we have hopes of finding an overlooked foundation or even some remains of the house built in 1690.
 
Remnants of the garden ornaments
At one point we enlist the help of the gardener’s granddaughter who was very familiar with the house and land to see if she knew of any other secrets in the garden.

So what was inside this three storied six bedroomed spacious and previously stylish Georgian house?
Sadly it was emptied of all signs of family love and care. It has clearly been vacant for some time. Although it has some recent renovations namely in late 18th century and around the 1970s it looks a little forlorn and just a tad water damaged. It is solid enough with its three reception rooms, kitchen, utility rooms and its three bedrooms on each of two floors, both with bathrooms.

One non Georgian addition is a windowed entrance porch which Greg says is a tastefully done Victorian addition C1880-90. Beyond that the reception hall with wood block floor, leads to stairs off to first floor and an archway leads to a rear hall, cellar access and a cloak area. Greg Strelley and his distant cousin Richard Kuchnowski are itching to explore the cellar for hints of the previous building foundations and land use.
Stairs down to the cellar

Although they couldn’t see much on that day Richard and Greg returned another day with torches. Said Greg of the findings “It was evident from our inspection with torches the main front was constructed c1790 on the original Elizabethan/Jacobean foundations and cellars. There are stones in the foundations that are truly ancient and look to date from the medieval period circa 1150-1200 judging by the method of carving. These stones have been re-used at some time in the period from 1600-1700, so are probably surviving stones from the original Hospitalliers building that were incorporated into the new house when the cellars were built or were enlarged from their original size. The cellars are built of barrel-vaulted bricks with large areas of stonework to the walls. There are no surviving areas of original medieval stonework that we were able to identify, so we assume the cellars and hence the footprint of the house was increased which led to removal of the old house foundations. There are some paving slabs and steps that are truly enormous and very worn. It is amazing to think of the amount of feet that have travelled over them over the last 800 years.......”

Also on the ground floor are a sitting room (18’2” x 16’3”) with shuttered windows and a feature fireplace. In addition there is a dining room (17’8” x 16’3”) with shuttered windows, a fireplace recess and full height cupboard and a drawing room (17’8” x 15’10”) with two shuttered windows and feature fireplace. A laundry room and pantry added to the main building around 1850 was probably added during the time that other Strelley residents lived there. 
Staircase leading to upper floors

The uneven dark stained wooden stairs lead to galleried landings on each floor which makes a dramatic centre-point to the house. I could visualise Robert and Elizabeth’s portraits hanging on the landing or then again they may have been pride of place in the other public areas of the house. 
Restored portrait of Elizabeth Strelley nee Clayton

Restored portrait of Robert Strelley

Because of its empty status we can freely explore the bedrooms with their cupboards and nooks. The 6 bedrooms are roughly the same size around 17’6” by 15’ with original fireplaces and shuttered windows. Each room had assorted recesses, display shelves and cupboards. One has a walk in dressing room. 
 
One of the large rooms

Original fireplace

Kym Strelley inspects the interior


 Kym Strelley and I try to envisage who slept where and we throw open the cupboards and drawers looking for signs of things past. Modern inclusions such as pipe work for central heating radiators sort of spoil the Georgian feel. Out of the windows I see the farm buildings. Robert would have looked out these windows and checked on his prized vegetables and stock. Robert and Elizabeth also built the  little cottage based on the date stone set in the gable end dated 1795 and initialled R and E. 

Views of the farm from upstairs window
I’ll never forget that day. A few of the prospective buyers and interested parties stop to discuss the property’s history and Greg is in his element extolling the great Strelley name in the district. Outside the gates we stop and talk to the farmer who currently rents the farm. More discussion and speculation! Greg says he’d really like to get a look at a monument supposedly inside a nearby condemned farm building which houses more tokens of Robert’s involvement in the construction.  It’s OK to look from the outside but inside is out of bounds. 

We sweet talk the farmer who volunteers to take a few snaps of the stone plaque ensconced inside the run down brick barn. YES! Richard and Greg discuss the finds.
 
The plaque from inside the old farm house

Robert and Eliz Strelley
She was one of the
The two Dau.s of X
Richard Clayton  of
The Breach Cent: ) X
Erected this building
AD
1791

What I will also treasure are the two framed prints of Robert and Elizabeth Strelley presented to me by Richard. My own little souvenir of my trip to Strelley, Nottingham and Derbyshire too see the Strelleys.... that and my snapshots of Waingroves.

After Richard Clayton Strelley sold the property others have been custodians of the land. The Codnor and District Local History and Heritage Website details other residents. Thomas Farnsworth lived there around 1912. Later in the 1920’s Col.H.J.A. Banks, then S Camplion Wright and Capt. Thomas Grieve took up residence. During Laurie MC’s ownership he indicated that buried remains of an earlier building existed beneath the front garden. 

Another owner who also took a keen interest in the history of the hall was Dr. Gerald and Margaret FitzMaurice Keatinge. Doctor Keating was doctor to the Butterley Company and he suggested that the current building was possibly the third or fourth incarnation of the hall. The hall was later owned by a Mr & Mrs Lloyd, and sold for £68000 in 1982 to Mr and Mrs Philips. The Hall has been vacant for some time.

The house has an unbelievably low guide price of  150,000 pounds. My husband says we can buy it even though we are only here on holidays.... but we have to win Powerball first. I’m sorely tempted and pray for a win.

On auction day we wait with baited breath to hear the fate of our ancestor’s home which I’ve come to think of as Robert and Elizabeth’s love nest. The property went for much more than the guide price. In a touching gesture Greg wrote a short note to congratulate the new owners and to explain how important this property is to the Strelleys.

The auction on September 11 2014 had a good feel about it. I have a good feeling that the delighted buyers know just how special this country home is and will faithfully restore it.
Richard Kuchnowski, Robyn Ford, Kym Strelley and Greg Strelley outside Waingroves Hall
Note:  There are many more photos taken on this day. Please contact me if you require more information.Contact me