Every Christmas my thoughts go back to my old Sunday School teacher Miss Mary Gleave who lived at Peel Hall, Kingsley, with her sister Mrs Garland and her daughter Ruth.
For several years I was lucky enough to be invited to Peel Hall around Christmas time along with other girls from her Sunday School class, including Thelma Rowlands, Elizabeth Maddock and Beryl Harvey.
We would get off the bus at the end of the lane beside what is now Lady Hayes Craft Centre and walk quite a long way down the lane to the large moated house where we received a warm welcome.
I had never see anything like it. The rooms were filled with items from a Victorian age, including a large picture of Queen Victoria and pictures of battles, beautiful ornaments, roaring fires and other items I now associate with museums.
We would sit down around a very large table to a Christmas meal (the best Cheshire turkey I had ever tasted) and after eating we were entertained by Ruth Garland who played the piano and played games with us and showed us lots of craft work which she had made. She often made sweets, especially coconut ice, and other craft items for the annual Christmas bazaar held in the upper rooms of the Hurst Methodist Chapel.
I had never been to such a large house and the moat surrounding it fascinated me, there were often ducks swimming on it. I also remember eating watercress grown in the stream near the house.
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