Friday 1 May 2015

Celebrating the birthday of Hough End Hall at the Lloyds Hotel on May 16

So how do you celebrate the birthday of a hall that is over 400 years old?

A cake seems a little silly and a party might not strike the right note for a building which opened its doors just eight years after the Spanish Armada.

It has to be something which marks those 400 years with a mix of polite reverence but also with a dash of fun.

Now I rather think it would be like inviting a very old and popular aunt whose quiet behaviour hides a racy past and who is held in such regard that shed loads of people want to come along and share their memories of how she has touched their lives.

And that is what we are planning on doing on Saturday May 16th at the Lloyds Hotel from 7.30.

It will start with the launch of the book Hough End Hall The Story which describes the hall and the people who lived and worked there.*

The book covers the four centuries from when it was the new home of Sir Nicholas Mosley through its 250 years as a farmhouse, its brief spell as a restaurant and the present campaign to buy it and convert it into community use.**

To accompany the book launch we will have the Beech Road Singers with a selection of songs and music popular during the hall’s long history and a series of short films made by Hardy Productions on some of the serious and not so serious moments in the Hall’s past.

All of which just leaves me to offer an invitation to anyone who has a story, a picture or a memory of the hall to come along and join us.

Now I am not sure whether Sir Nicholas would approve but the event is free and the profits from the book all go towards the campaign to save the building.

And I am reliably informed that there will be the odd silly competition, the last of the special jigsaws along with an opportunity to talk to some of the Friends of Hough End Hall as well as a chance to meet the authors and get a signed copy of the book.

It just has the lot and if great aunt Alice does turn up I reckon she would be as pleased as Punch that so many people will be there to say a special happy birthday.

Pictures; cover of Hough End Hall The Story

Hough End Hall The Story will be published in mid May and will be available from Chorlton Bookshop, price £14.99

*A new book on Hough End Hall, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/A%20new%20book%20on%20Hough%20End%20Hall

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