John Hastie, his wife Isabella and five of their children were born in Berwickshire. They then moved to Buckinghamshire where they had three more children. Their eldest son Thomas went back to Scotland but the rest of the family moved to Shottle in 1876 where they farmed and were neighbours of the Tempests of Windley. When the Hasties came to Park Farm in 1880, it was 102 acres with the address given as “Park Farm, Magpie Hill”.

John Hastie becomes an important figure in the village, acting as a member and then Vice Chairman of the village School Board. Col. Noel from The Outwoods is chairman. George Thums is also on the school board. By the 1891 census John is 70 and Isabella is 55. Their children are John (32), Michael (29), Isabella (26), Alexander (22), Alfred (21, Elizabeth (18) and Margaret (17). A further daughter, Mary Ann had died as a baby. Elizabeth is a teacher but the others work on the farm – all living in a six-roomed house. By 1901 the Hastie family had moved out with John living with his wife, two sons and a daughter in Alfreton Road. Isabella died in 1902.

John Hastie junior marries the daughter of a farmer in Turnditch but continues to live with his parents while his wife, Mary, lives with hers. Despite this arrangement, they manage to produce four children. John worked at The Elms farm and was killed by a horse when he was 49. His son William had an adventurous life. He joined the army and fought in the Boer War and the First World War, rising to the rank of second lieutenant. Between the wars and afterwards he was a planter in Malaya. He was baptised in Little Eaton in 1909, we think while he was here to be at his father’s funeral.

Elizabeth Hastie was a teacher in Little Eaton until she married and moved to Nottingham. Her sister Isabella lived with Eva Green, a teacher at Little Eaton for 47 years. Between them they brought up Eva’s nephew, David Green. Brothers Alexander and Michael both moved back to Scotland. Alfred Hastie moved away but came back in 1927 to marry Alice Tomlinson, another teacher at the school.