Explosive discussions

Remember, remember the 24th of August. According to the announcement on the noticeboard next to the bus stop, that is the date on which the next firework display will be held at the almost stately home just outside the southern boundary of the village. We shall call the gigantic Victorian pile Speculative Towers, for its original owner made his fortune from that sort of building. Since its glory days — Lady Elizabeth Cavendish can remember being taken there for tea — it has experienced several metamorphoses. At one time it was a teachers’ training college. Then, when all such institutions were absorbed into polytechnics, it became private property again. But not exclusively so. It is now owned and occupied by a generally public-spirited and immensely successful young entrepreneur, who — with her husband — has made part of the house a popular venue for ‘functions’. Some are charitable, others not.