Gedling House and Lady Bay
Back from Africa I moved to Newark and spent a lot of time at Chris and Sandra Hemstock's at their Bathley cottage. Luke was born there. Chris had set up a pottery and Sandra started a children's clothes company called Ragamuffin.
The Nottinghamshire Museum service was based in Gedling House, Gedling. Chris delivered stuff to schools. Betty was the receptionist. Peter Cast was the taxidermist. Terry was the caretaker. Derek Bilton ran the place. Lovely building, kitchen gardens and woods. Terry left and I took over the caretaking; I had no accommodation so i lived in the house.
Initially I slept in the staffroom - this was off the foyer, adjacent to the back stairs and a five foot tall safe recessed about a foot behind a normal door. There was a baby belling in the staffroom, a sink and easy chairs with removable vinyl cushions - my bed.
After a very scary incident when I was trapped behind that false safe door after midnight with something dark gliding down the back stairs, I decided to sleep in the foyer adjacent to the main front door through which I could quickly escape if necessary.
The foyer was very spacious. There were four doors off the foyer leading to the staff room, the secretary's office, the director's office and the museum service store/workshop. The main feature of the foyer was the lovely, sweeping, Georgian staircase terminating at a fire door on the first floor landing.
Each night I would lay out the cushions from the staff room chairs, unroll my sleeping bag, arrange my replica roman gladius sword and replica medieval mace on each side of the sleeping bag and drop off to sleep.
I had had a number of spooky experiences in the house during the months I was there, usually whilst cleaning, hoovering, or tidying up after events in the early evening. Typically I would be moving from room to room, aware of traffic noise and the sounds of children playing football, netball etc from the nearby secondary school. Suddenly the sounds would cease, the temperature would drop and the hairs on the back of my neck would start prickling. I grew cold and felt a nearby presence and a small cold breeze - this lasted for about two minutes then the noises would come back and all was normal again.
Even though the foyer was well lit by moonlight I had no trouble getting off too sleep. I was woken about one in the morning and was instantly alert. It was very quiet and cold despite being late summer. From where I was lying I could see the whole of the staircase and the firedoor on the landing. The door had a hydraulic/spring closer but was starting to slowly open. Through it drifted a white shape - a woman in a long dress/gown. She descended the stairs, reached the bottom, passed by me lying still and scared in my sleeping bag then faded away as she crossed the foyer.
When I was still sleeping in the staffroom, before the above event, i had a truly frightening night. At the time I was looking after Sheba, the alsatian belonging to the previous caretaker. She was asleep next to me on the floor. Again I had a gladius and a mace next to me. I was wearing just a pair of boxers. Sheba's whimpering woke me up. She was flat on the floor, ears down, hair on end making mewling noises.
Then I heard the noises above me - bump, shuffle, bump, shuffle, bump. I was scared and half panicked. I didn't want to be trapped in the staffroom so I grabbed the mace and sword, slipped out of the room, opened the false door to the safe and squeezed into the gap behind the door leaving it slightly ajar. I had a view up the back stairs as far as the half landing where the stairs swtitched through 180 degrees. Behind the landing was a tall broad window well lit by a good moon.
The bumps continued and started to come down the stairs, the bit I couldn't see towards the landing. Then a large dark shape blotted out the window and continued down the stairs towards me. I was terrified. Then a second shape appeared on the landing with a torch. As the beam swung round it illuminated the first shape - a very large policeman complete with helmet.
I was so relieved that I pushed open the door and stepped out in my underpants holding the sword and mace. I was very white. The policeman screamed and staggered back falling on the bottoms treads of the stairs. I hovered over him smiling (baring my teeth) and he screamed again holding his arms to to protect himself. I had some explaining to do.
A dog walker had spotted a window open earlier and contacted the station. The constables had entered through the window and worked their way through to the back stairs. All was well. They went away a bit shaken and left me there.
I handed in my notice shortly after the ghost on the stairs incident.
Moved to Lady Bay, worked on NCC buses out of Trent Bridge depot. Met Phil Tarling, fellow conductor and his friends. Spent a lot of time at 27 Trent Boulevard and in the Lady Bay pub playing darts. Met and was smitten by Angie Kelly, a student at Mary Ward college. The photos of Angie taken round Trent Bridge and London.
Moved to Morley Terrace in Carrington. Katy and Barbara Laws joined me there. I worked on Trent buses whilst there. The house was to be demolished so we moved to 215 Arkwright Street. Katy was an exhibitions assistant at the Midland Group on East Circus Street. I started doing Saturday invigilation there, then odd diy jobs. I was employed full time in 1974 - first job was to archive all the catalogues, posters and artworks in the cellar...
The Nottinghamshire Museum service was based in Gedling House, Gedling. Chris delivered stuff to schools. Betty was the receptionist. Peter Cast was the taxidermist. Terry was the caretaker. Derek Bilton ran the place. Lovely building, kitchen gardens and woods. Terry left and I took over the caretaking; I had no accommodation so i lived in the house.
Initially I slept in the staffroom - this was off the foyer, adjacent to the back stairs and a five foot tall safe recessed about a foot behind a normal door. There was a baby belling in the staffroom, a sink and easy chairs with removable vinyl cushions - my bed.
After a very scary incident when I was trapped behind that false safe door after midnight with something dark gliding down the back stairs, I decided to sleep in the foyer adjacent to the main front door through which I could quickly escape if necessary.
The foyer was very spacious. There were four doors off the foyer leading to the staff room, the secretary's office, the director's office and the museum service store/workshop. The main feature of the foyer was the lovely, sweeping, Georgian staircase terminating at a fire door on the first floor landing.
Each night I would lay out the cushions from the staff room chairs, unroll my sleeping bag, arrange my replica roman gladius sword and replica medieval mace on each side of the sleeping bag and drop off to sleep.
I had had a number of spooky experiences in the house during the months I was there, usually whilst cleaning, hoovering, or tidying up after events in the early evening. Typically I would be moving from room to room, aware of traffic noise and the sounds of children playing football, netball etc from the nearby secondary school. Suddenly the sounds would cease, the temperature would drop and the hairs on the back of my neck would start prickling. I grew cold and felt a nearby presence and a small cold breeze - this lasted for about two minutes then the noises would come back and all was normal again.
Even though the foyer was well lit by moonlight I had no trouble getting off too sleep. I was woken about one in the morning and was instantly alert. It was very quiet and cold despite being late summer. From where I was lying I could see the whole of the staircase and the firedoor on the landing. The door had a hydraulic/spring closer but was starting to slowly open. Through it drifted a white shape - a woman in a long dress/gown. She descended the stairs, reached the bottom, passed by me lying still and scared in my sleeping bag then faded away as she crossed the foyer.
When I was still sleeping in the staffroom, before the above event, i had a truly frightening night. At the time I was looking after Sheba, the alsatian belonging to the previous caretaker. She was asleep next to me on the floor. Again I had a gladius and a mace next to me. I was wearing just a pair of boxers. Sheba's whimpering woke me up. She was flat on the floor, ears down, hair on end making mewling noises.
Then I heard the noises above me - bump, shuffle, bump, shuffle, bump. I was scared and half panicked. I didn't want to be trapped in the staffroom so I grabbed the mace and sword, slipped out of the room, opened the false door to the safe and squeezed into the gap behind the door leaving it slightly ajar. I had a view up the back stairs as far as the half landing where the stairs swtitched through 180 degrees. Behind the landing was a tall broad window well lit by a good moon.
The bumps continued and started to come down the stairs, the bit I couldn't see towards the landing. Then a large dark shape blotted out the window and continued down the stairs towards me. I was terrified. Then a second shape appeared on the landing with a torch. As the beam swung round it illuminated the first shape - a very large policeman complete with helmet.
I was so relieved that I pushed open the door and stepped out in my underpants holding the sword and mace. I was very white. The policeman screamed and staggered back falling on the bottoms treads of the stairs. I hovered over him smiling (baring my teeth) and he screamed again holding his arms to to protect himself. I had some explaining to do.
A dog walker had spotted a window open earlier and contacted the station. The constables had entered through the window and worked their way through to the back stairs. All was well. They went away a bit shaken and left me there.
I handed in my notice shortly after the ghost on the stairs incident.
Moved to Lady Bay, worked on NCC buses out of Trent Bridge depot. Met Phil Tarling, fellow conductor and his friends. Spent a lot of time at 27 Trent Boulevard and in the Lady Bay pub playing darts. Met and was smitten by Angie Kelly, a student at Mary Ward college. The photos of Angie taken round Trent Bridge and London.
Moved to Morley Terrace in Carrington. Katy and Barbara Laws joined me there. I worked on Trent buses whilst there. The house was to be demolished so we moved to 215 Arkwright Street. Katy was an exhibitions assistant at the Midland Group on East Circus Street. I started doing Saturday invigilation there, then odd diy jobs. I was employed full time in 1974 - first job was to archive all the catalogues, posters and artworks in the cellar...
