A day with my friend Nigel Smith attending the St Ives Auction and then responding with my opinions about his restoration of Hail Weston House when we visited there later as Westland continues to dominate the news with admissions in the House that Leon Brittan had lied about not seeing the British Aerospace letter
Slowly awake and rather fed up with the early calls of the last four days. Down to breakfast with the family and then quickly showered and dressed so as to be ready to drive over to Nigel’s at Hail Weston. Our plans were to go to Ekins antique auction at St Ives, but first he showed me around Hail Weston House and what he had been doing. A very large building and he has done well to restore it and has most of it in order now. He is justly proud of the curtain poles and general furnishing and asked me about a range of items that he has removed during the refurbishment.
I suggested that a row of 10/12 brass service bells and springs were worth salving and that an old toiled marked ‘Westminster Palace’ could be taken to Peacocks and fetch a reasonable amount. Then a tour of the garden. I did not hide my disapproval of the countless leylandii conifers that he had planted, but we agreed he would consider growing more permanent yew (or similar) in their lee. Off then to St Ives and a coffee before we got underway. A fair look at the pictures and I marked half a dozen or so in my catalogue and Nigel a couple as well. In the end they were bid up to £120-250 +, which was too much for me today. A look at the furniture and I miss a mahogany games table and Nigel an oak sideboard and so I take him off to talk about gardens over another coffee. In the end, I bring him home and lend him three books on recreating the period garden and I hope he follows some of the advice, as it would be a shame to end up with a garden out of character with the old house. Some phone calls and work this afternoon and disappointed with the TV coverage of the events in the House of Commons. An evening completing the rest of my alarm wiring, as I now fear the progress of the building work reducing my installation options. News tonight of the European Consortium having the 25% of blocking shares to defeat the Sikorsky motion on Friday, according to Bristow, who snapped up another 2% of the shares today. It seems that the Westland Board are ruling out the possibility of putting the European offer to shareholders. The political row continues, with the news that the British Aerospace letter is to be published. Brittan had wrongly denied knowledge of its existence, even though he later had to admit knowing of it. Thatcher was let off the hook in Prime Minister’s question time by a mixture of opposition reticence and friendly questions from Tory MPs. The opinion polls in the Evening Standard show that the Tories have lost massive electoral support over the crisis. The Bank of England had to intervene to prevent the clearing banks increasing the bank rate by another 1%. A youth has been charged with the murder of Tessa Howden, who was sexually assaulted and strangled in her own home last Friday. The gales today have been causing widespread disruption.