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| Photograph © Christine Robinson |
Christine Robinson is a very good storyteller. From the start, she had us listening to
every word about her forty years as the housekeeper at Chatsworth House,
home of the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire. While she was a student, she lived locally and had a Saturday job helping in the estate shop
and became intrigued by the house and its occupants. This lead to a
permanent post, learning from Dorothy Dean the housekeeper at that
time.
Christine told us that Chatsworth
House has been the Devonshire family home for 500 years and the
archives hold details of many historical events. The 11th
Duke and Duchess loved to entertain and there is a warm atmosphere in
this very grand house with the staff working as a team to ensure it
is so. She described how everything is vacuumed and dusted
every day with half a mile of corridors to be kept tidy. Books, of which
there are more than 17,500, ceramics, sculptures, ornaments and
carpets are all deep cleaned regularly. The chandeliers are taken
down piece by piece and then carefully reassembled after cleaning
with one containing a staggering 2763 pieces!
Sometime
after the death of the Dowager Duchess (the former 11th
Duchess), Christine was surprised to be bequeathed a beautiful Delft
pot and which contained a small box. On opening this, she found a ring with
the initials “DD” which she recognised as one worn by her
predecessor Dorothy Dean. Apparently this had been left to the
Duchess because her initials were the same. In turn, the Duchess had
thought that Christine might like it by which to remember her.
After the talk, Val
McMinn proposed a vote of thanks to Christine and her dutiful husband, so called by Christine, who works quietly behind the scenes
as all good husbands should! This was followed by a prize draw. There was a small jar of preserve from Chatsworth on each table and under
it was a raffle ticket. Each guest had been allotted a ticket under
their individual cup and saucer and there was therefore a winner on
each table.
