The Baronets Diary August 2024
I was thrilled to attend the end of year screening of all the films made by the University of Derby’s students at the beginning of June. As mentioned before in this column Tissington acted as the backdrop for one of the ten-minute movies that the alumni made as part of their dissertation in their final year. A night at Quad Cinema in the Centre of Derby was the venue and the assembled throng watched a mixture of action and animated short films. On entering the cinema, I bumped into an old contemporary and asked what he was doing there- the said John Wedgwood, a retired doctor from Brailsford, is an aspiring actor and he was appearing as a grumpy publican in one of the films. After the full screening we were all asked to vote for our favourite of the night and I am thrilled to report that Iris Mortem the gothic suicide fable made by Wilf McKie at Tissington was the overall winner! I never took up the opportunity to go to University but in my later years I am pleased to have contributed to a degree as I was made Executive Producer and had my name on the credits.
We have a thorough fire alarm at Tissington. I have written before about the sensitivities of the system and the fire and smoke detectors. However, I can also report from first hand knowledge that the ‘break glass’ monitors do work!! After a wedding came to a close at 12.30pm a couple retired to the North Wing apartment in the Hall and all seemed well. Three minutes later all the sirens went off and I was awoken from a deep slumber as one guest had decided to turn off the lights by smashing the glass! Luckily for them ,and although dressed in my night shirt , I and housekeeper Gabi managed to stop the racket! The guest suggested that, living in China, the switches are ‘behind glass’. Too much wine methinks!
Every year the village organizes an Open Gardens weekend usually comprising of a dozen gardens in our community to raise money for St Mary’s Church. This year we chose a Sunday afternoon in late June and all preparations were going well until I received a message that our next door neighbours, Parwich, had chosen the same date. We had set our day around other commitments at the Hall namely weddings and so the 23rd was the choice. In order to ameliorate the situation, I managed to pull a few strings and both Viv (who represents Parwich) and I appeared on the BBC Radio Derby Breakfast Show quiz in the days preceding the opening. Separately both of us did well and scored 50 points in the ‘Battle of the Open Gardens’ as presenter Andy Twigge described it.Good publicity as it proved and blessed with great weather we raised over £1200 for Church funds…and of course the many visitors loved the intricacies of the beautifully tended cottage gardens as well as the Hall’s spread of roses.
The conversion of the former Old Stable Block just after covid to make a function space for 60 has been a great success. Since the pandemic many wedding couples have cut their numbers from around 120 by half and the Carriage House makes an intimate space to host wedding breakfasts for 40 to 60. Of course, we can hold other events there and on a glorious night in June we were delighted to host the annual Ladies Night for the County Club of Derby. Many of you will recall that Tissington hosts a Gents’lunch for the Club every October but this was the opportunity to welcome wives and partners . Pre-dinner a tour of the gardens ,glass of champagne in hand, was accompanied by the two balloon flights that had taken off from the avenue and flew directly over the Hall on their way to Middleton by Wirksworth. Then followed a splendid three course dinner from Etwall chef Mark Hadfield. A great night all round.
On the last day of June, I have to report that sadly an erroneous farmer carting his hay back to the village knocked over one of the entrance pillars to the Village with the end of his trailer. The gates had only just been repaired in March and so had stood for a full three months! This is the tenth time that the gates have been hit in the last 12 years and it is becoming ridiculous! The gates were built in the 1780s for the horse and cart…now they see pantechnicons and huge lorries as well as buses and coaches! I am not a highways expert so I plan to sell them for £1 to any bidder! Are there any takers out there ??