MY GRANDMOTHER'S BALLROOM...

Octavia (Betty) Thomas in the 1920's

My grandmother, Octavia, was born at the turn of the last century. She was named as such because she was the eighth child in her family. But, to me she was Granny Thomas and, to her friends, she was always Betty.

When she married my grandfather, Brian, Betty lived on the top two floors of what had been a Victorian coaching inn in the market town of Leominster. The hotel was built in 1840  but its owner was declared bankrupt by 1851. The inn had opened for business at just the wrong time in history, at the dawn of the railway era with fewer and fewer customers using coaches for their travels.

By the time I knew the building the lower floors were used as a shopfront, with rooms above as offices. At the back there were stable blocks, paddocks, and barns providing storage for the agricultural machinery and feed in which my grandfather traded. 

My great grandfather had also worked there before he'd bought the property. In the late 1800's he was made a partner in the firm Alexander & Duncan. Back then the company specialised in selling ironmongery and the ballroom was used as a showroom, filled with items like iron hearth surrounds, chairs, tables, frames for beds, and umbrella stands.

When I was a little girl, the ballroom had fallen into a state of crumbling disrepair, with cobwebs dangling from the plasterwork, and dusty bags of feedstuff heaped up across the floor. But my grandmother used to tell me how it once echoed to sounds of music, with laughter and singing and dancing. She would lead me through these entrance doors ...

 And on, into the ballroom, which in its heyday looked like this ...

An 1843 engraving of a New Year's Eve ball: the grand opening of The Lion Ballroom

And, nowadays, since my grandmother's death and the subsequent sale of the property, the ballroom has been restored and is let out for private parties and many cultural events.

I wish Granny Thomas could see it today, though for myself I haven't been able to bring myself to look. I think it would be too upsetting. In my mind it will always remain as somewhere for me and Betty alone.