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Seligor's Castle, fun for all the children of the world.
Fingles Wood 2



seligorscastle.zoomshare.com


"For Badgers lovers Everywhere"

             It was the beginning of autumn and the leaves were just starting to change colour. It had been a really difficult summer for Irma Pogglewatch and her sister, EdnaEntrance to a sett Drewstitch. Now straight away you might find their names very complicated but you see, badgers have a first and second and sometimes even a third name before their surname, usually the names belonged to relatives of the badges from long ago.
In this case Irma Pogglewatch was named after her great, great aunt Irma and her great, great uncle Pogglewatch.
Whereas  Edna was given her grandmothers first name and the Drewstitch came from her grand mother Drewstitch, who had been a seamstress to Lady Cerys of the Wynnstay's Sett                         
The two young badgers we're living in England when their story began, Just after a huge storm had hit their home and they were made orphans.
The older brocks managed to get the two youngsters out of the Sett but unfortunately my Fingles Woodsister and her husband were killed.
It was very sad and  it was decided that they should come over to Fingles Wood to live with our Great Aunt Izzy.

And so Irma and Edna left their sett in Lee Brockhurst and came to live in Fingles Wood. It was now a month since the girls arrived at the caves but already they were preparing for their greatest adventure of their young lives.


They were about to open a school for the
"Little Ones of Fingles Wood"


The Badgers of Fingles Wood
and some of the Arctic Animals

The Badgers of Fingle WoodsThe girls decided it would be best to use the lower cavern.

The Sisters Pogglewatch and Drewstitch
Little School of Excellence

      It took the girls a few days to ask around Fingles Wood if anyone would be interested in them opening a Nursery School. It was met with the
Welcome to our new school.. Eddy and Irma
overwhelming answer "Yes".
It seemed everyone not only wanted a nursery school but also wanted to help Eddy and Irma to get it started. But "first things first," said Uncle Brock, "Plans had to be made." and with help they soon were.
They decided that the large cavern near the bottom of the rocks was the best option. It would be easily reached by the smaller and none climbing creatures to get to the class rooms. It was soon obvious though that it wasn't all going to come together overnight, there was a lot of work needed doing; lighting and heating would be neccesary for the winter, these were the big jobs along with an extention on the water pipes from up above. But work was soon underway and it wasn't long before all the big jobs were finished.

                                                           The front of Fingle School
   

  Winter was not far away and if possible Eddy wanted the school finished before the snow came so that it could be opened straight after Christmas. But before then Immy wanted to make a register of all the little ones who would be old and young enough to go to the school, and who betterJenny Hedgehog to ask than the Tooth Fairy, Fiona. She knew all the little ones and most, if not all of the big ones as well. They had both already heard the story of when Fiona nearly died when she was frozen to Mrs Rabbits clothes line last winter. Aunt Izzy said the story was still being told at Easter but when Jenny Hedgehog broke her back legs, they forgot all about poor Fiona.
Aunt Izzy did laugh, not because Fiona was forgotton but because Tipsy Tortoise had a houda fixed to his shell and Jenny used him to go everywhere for a whole month.
   
The girls arranged to meet Fiona in the middle of the woods near the old fairy ring. The elves had discovered a new one nearer to the fairies lodgings and so the old one was used as a meeting place now. Fiona looked gorgeous in her little blue dress,
"I'll have to change it soon though." she laughed, "I don't want to hang on another washing line," she laughed.
"Right you need to know who we have and who we might have and who we probably wont have, because they think the're above school."
"Goodness me, are you telling me that there are some awkward creatures in this woods! Eddy exclaimed, "gosh I wouldn't have believed it everyone we've met has been so nice."
"Ah ha, but that's it you see Eddy, the ones you've met are all friends but there are some families that won't have anything to do with this side of the wood."
"Well I am really shocked," Immy gasped. "I thought like Eddy that everyone would love to come. Of course we can't make anyone come, we're not real teachers but we will be able to have fun and keep the little ones safe through the day." She put her hands on her hips, "well I think the awkward ones  are the ones we tackle first Em, what do you think?
"I think that's a brilliant idea. If we can get them sorted out, well you never know!
"This is true," Fiona replied but please don't be upset if you end up barking up the wrong tree, some of these weasels and stoats can be really awkward. And that is not mentioning the rat families and the mink, they really are very bad news. Forever getting into trouble with  Mr Boggleworth."Uncle Bart in the Kitchen
"Uncle Bart," both girls said together," surely not, nobody would mess with Uncle Bart. He is so big."
"Hm he may be big but that didn't stop the young weasels  from pinching all of his  prize marrows and selling them down in the next village."
"Dear, dear me, what do you think Eddy, is it worth asking the real naughty ones to attend?"
"Well I think there is more reason for them to come to school that the little angels. Goodness me Immy, it will be a challange. If we can teach them right from wrong that is really very good, and we'll be able to have marrow jam next year."
Immy and Fiona almost fell off the tree stump they were laughing so much."Trust you to be thinking of you're belly Eddy." Immy laughed and rolled about in the long grass.
"Look at the time already?" she said glancing at the sun. "If we don't get this list made we will never be home for dinner."
"Right where do we start then? Fiona said taking her pencil from her purse.Shed Shed xx
The three girls began to make the lists. First the probably never wills, there was Stevie and Cedrick Walls the weasels from Pandy Mill, then Tyrone and Martha Meadow weasel, they would probably like to go to school but the journey from the meadow to the caves just might be too far for them to travel, "they can be marked down as a "Maybe" I think." Edna murmered, "you never know there might be a way of getting them over; even for a couple of days."
Fiona explained that the Weasel and rat surnames depended on where they were born. The posher the place the higher the ranking in the weasel family. Brendan and Aiden Barn were really posh they shared the barn with a few of the rats.
The Royal rats, Simon, Susan,Sarn, Sugar and Shed! all lived in the old car that had been dumped in the woods many years ago. In someways they wanted it gone, but then it was home to quite a few creatures, so no one ever raised it at the meetings.
You may be wondering why one of the eldest of the younger rats was called Shed, their mum Matty had him in the old shed, she did have six  but the other five were killed by one of the mink. It was a sad day but Simon, Susan, Sarn and Sugar came along later and Matty seems to have got over their loss now. (Matty is short for Matilda by the way.)
The mink seemed to be a no go area all round, so Eddy with a wee frown crossed them all off the list.
"What about the fairies Fiona, will any of them wish to attend?"
"Hm-m I don't think so Irma, " Fiona frowned, "Not that we wouldn't love to be there but we do have our own hall of teaching at Magic Dell Academy. We don't really need much real stuff cos we can magic things if they go wrong." She laughed. Immy did love to hear her laughter, it was like the tinkling of a bell. "Oh yes that reminds me" she said, "We must get a bell for the school, make sure everyone arrives on time. Oops, sorry Fiona do continue."
"Well as I said we don't need to come to your school but I have been thinking, and I am sure there are a couple of the Juvenile fairies that would love to be your helpers, and some of the little ones would like having there own fairy to look after them."
"What a brilliant idea. Can you sort that out for us Fiona please? Eddy was busy scribbling notes in her litle book. "Now I think maybe we can take about thirty pupils to begin with, maybe, and it is a big maybe, if everything goes to plan and we can get another adult to help, we may be able to make another classroom in the cave above."  Immy smiled at her sister, it was wonderful how things had worked out and all the time Edna kept writing as she was talking. Immy laughed quietly to herself.
"The rabbits, we know will fill up a school on their own so we will have to put limits on age and amount from each family, what do you think Irma, two from each family the limit?
Irma now started to scribble in her note book, "I must get the names written down as soon as possible, I hope we don't have too many identical twins. Why it could lead to total chaos!" she exclaimed.
"Hey Eddy it will be like the old song, "The animals went in two by two" she sang the line and laughed.
"Come on my sister," Eddy laughed wrapping her paw across Irma's back  " I love you so much you are just so special."
"I think I would like to second that as well." A deep voice came from behind them.
The girls both spun round to face the voice. There was their Uncle Cledwyn, cart and all.
"Uncle Cledwyn, hi'ya, where have you been? We haven't seen you for days. What have you got in the cart?" Both girls made a dash for the cart.
"Hey, hey, hey. Slow down which answer do you want first. First I have been to visit a few old friends, school friends actually. Secondly the reason you haven't seen me for days is because I haven't been here." He roared laughing at his own joke. "And thirdly" he said putting a paw on the tarpoline over the cart." Why don't you take a look!"
Both girls were under the tarpoline like the Pandy weasels.
"Oh Fiona, come and see what Uncle Cledwyn has got. Oh my goodness I love you." Irma shouted throwing her arms around his  shoulders. There on the cart, under the tarpoline was a huge pile of desks and chairs for the classrooms.

       Well that was it, the hustle and bustle of arranging all the class rooms began. The lighting was finished. The cave walls had been decorated and one of Uncle Cled's nephews from the lower sett came and painted  beautiful murals over the classroom walls, some of them on boards even, they looked so real.

                                               this is one of the classroom walls


Uncle Willowdown did this mural for us, arn't we lucky?  xxx Immy.

Everything seemed to be going really well. Always there mind, in the back ground was Great Aunt Izzy, making sure that both girls were not overdoing things.
"I really can't think what we used to do all day before those two teenagers came here to live. Why even the youngest ones seem to be behaving themselves." She said to Mrs Clarissa Buck, "They just don't seem to get tired and yet I'm sure they talk half the night as well."
Clarissa Buck
        And so it was, things kept being done; paths to clear, the few odd trees to be felled to make access easier for the weasels and stoats who were coming to get through.
It had taken Eddy and Immy quite a while to persuade even one of them to attend the school but something happened that changed everything in the first week of December.
It was rather a cold day, there had been quiet a heavy fall of rain and sleet, all the paths were very slippy in parts. Now not to far away from the main sett and left of the old church yard that had long since become a ruin there was a stairway that was carved out between two peices of rock by the Llannefydd Elves of Fingles Wood, this was many, many years earlier.
The "Big people" called it the "Devil's Staircase" when they found it, which made the Elves laugh, however they let the name stay because it kept the little ones from playing around them because they had become very unsafe at the bottom.
It was the day Eddy and Immy were helping Uncle Buck, William and Stephen to clear away some fallen rocks from the top of the rise above the old Huntsmans Cottage They were all hard at it when they heard a loud yelp, followed by a lot of screaming. It sounded as if someone was caught in a trap. Within minutes the girls had bounded away through the undergrowth and there lying near the bottom of the Devil's Staircase was Wilhemina Walls, the four year old daughter of the Wall Weasels, nothing was to be seen of her two brothers, but you can bet they were to be found somewhere around.
Not that it mattered for it was Eddy to the rescue, within seconds she was organising the rescue.! "Immy  you make your way to her from the top, I'll go down to the bottom and see if I can find a way up to her." And without further-more ado, Eddy was climbing down the side of the rock face and inching her way towards the stairs.
The Elves were right, the bottom three or four steps had become dislodged in the small gap. As Eddy placed her foot on the closest one to her, the one beneath it slipped. Wilhemina screamed, Immy let out a yell and Eddy grabbed hold of the nearest piece of ivy.
Thank goodness it held fast to the ground and Eddy managed to regain her footing and pull herself onto the first safe step.
By this time the brocks had arrived with some rope and a ladder, but it was no use there was no where for the ladder to stand safe.
"Uncle Buck, if you give me the rope I can throw it to Immy she can then take it to the top where the boys can tie it off and hold it steady. You ok with that Immy ,"
"Immy nodded her head she looked almost as worried as the little Wilhemina," I have a good idea Immy, why don't we teach Wilhemina that little song, the one that we will be teaching in school." she winked at her sister.
"Why I do believe I know just the one," Immy said smiling, be it a bit forced. "We shall sing Row, row, row your boat, do you know that one Wilhemina darling?"
Willy shook her little head and gripped onto the rope that Immy had placed in her little paws
. "Right, then we will sing it.
Wilhemina was feeling better singing the song
Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream.
 

   Come on it's your turn now Willy, you start and as we sing  the row, row, row bit, we will both move up the rope, is that ok my darling," she whispered in the little ones ear.
Then for the first time since they arrived at the steps the little one smiled and with Eddy behind her helping her up the stairs, Immy in front of her guiding her little paws over the rope, and the whole lot of them singing "row, row your boat," they were up at the top in next to no time. They were safe.
When the parents of Cedrick and Stevie Walls found out what had happened and after chastising both the boys, Mr Walls ensured Eddy and Immy that both boys would be attending school when it opened, as well as Willy, if it was only to give her a chance of some time with animals of her own age.
Of course this pleased Wilhemena for after her rescue she had fallen under Immy's spell and was already calling her Miss Poglewitch! Hmm which in turn made Immy decide that she would be called Miss Immy. "I really do think Pogglewatch is far to long for little ones," she confided in Aunt Izzy later that week...
Uncle Willowdown painted a couple more Murals inside the large class room. Here you are a quick peep before the children are set loose inside the classrooms.

Wilhemena loves this picture of the giraffe.

The days seemed to pass slowly. Eddy and Immy watched as the little ones began to get excited at the prospect of the approaching Christmas. Uncle Brock had already chosen the Christmas Tree that was to be decorated. It was down by the old Chapel of St Mary's Well.   It was last Tuesday Night when everyone was gathered at the entrace into the Big Cave. A big fire was in the fire circle and it was then that Uncle Brock told us why he had picked this special tree for this year.
"You see Immy, Eddy," The girls not ever hearing this story before. "Many, many years ago the old well "Ffynnon Fair" in Welsh, or St. Mary's Well in English used to be the place were many Weddings and Baptisms took place. There would be music and the playing of the Harp. Young girls would dance round the waters of the well. It was a very Sacred Place and some say that the waters even had healing powers." He smiled and rubbed his big paws together. "Are you all warm enough?" he asked as he put more wood on the fire.
"Yes, yes, go on Uncle Brock." everyone said impatiently. Brock smiled once more and continued. "Well I can remember when we were little, that is your Uncle Cled, his sister Jenny; your poor darling mother, and a few more of us had been out catching fish for the day by the old swing bridge. It got a bit cold so we decided to stay at the old Chapel for the night."
"Oh my goodness Uncle Brock, did you really go places with our Mum?" Eddy asked her eyes as big as doorstops.
"Well of course I did, and Cled and Old Randolf, you met him didn't you girls at Dolben Cottage."  
"Yes, yes we did, but go on with the story now please." the girls leaned forwards towards the fire. "Course, course otherwise it will be after your bed times and old Aunt Izzy will be out here shouting."
"She is already here," Aunt Izzy's voice came from the mouth of the cave. "Now get on with the story Brock or I'll be there to tell  it myself.      

                                  Can you see the monkeys in the trees.
               
Thank you Uncle Willowdown these are so wonderful, the creatures are a lot bigger where you are, than they are in Wales.



Fun and Games with some more creatures.

                                  

Peril at the Bridge

Well, I would like to say that the swing bridge that crossed over the River Elwy, looked a bit like this one, but it didn't it was more like my friends Blubison's bridge that the pirates used in their story. But alas it was a sort of cross between a load of very unsafe planks, that were held together with ropes, that looked like they may snap anyday. Many times Seligor went here when she was a little girl and this is how I came to know all the stories about Immy and Eddy and all their friends that lived in and aroung Fingles Wood.
So let us get back to Uncle Brock and the kids sitting in the cave. Hopefully he will have started it by now.......
    ....... "Right are you all ready. Throw a few more logs on the fire William, then we'll begin.!
Immy and Eddy looked after the little ones as they sat round the fire"Oh for goodness sake Brock, the little ones will be asleep if you don't get on with it." Shouted
Aunt Izzy! "Yes come on Uncle Brock everyone else shouted.
What a noise you could here them right down the river , I'm sure.
Uncle Brock stood up and walked to the middle of the big rock, the kids called the Giants Pantry. He sat  down. It all went very quiet. Not a sound, even the wind stopped blowing.
       "It was still a cold night, it had been a lovely sunny all day but everyone was having so much fun that they hadn't realised how late it was getting. The next thing we knew there were night clouds  coming over and there was no way we were going to make it back to the sett before it was dark. To make matters worse we were all on the wrong side of the river and we had been told never to try to go across the swing bridge in the dark..
"Oh dear, were you frightened Uncle Brock." Poor Tudor jumped as everyone together said, "Oh do shut up Tudor and listen." Edna caught hold of him and sat him on her knee. "Listen to the story, that's a good boy" she whispered as Uncle Brock continued his tale.
    "So there we where the other side of the river, it was at least two kilometres to the Sett, what were we to do? 
"I know" said Jenny. "We could stay in the old chapel."
"You what" Cled said his face draining of colour, "you want us to stay in the old chapel, it hasn't even got a roof, or walls!
"It's got one wall where the bell used to be."  Jenny said, "never mind we can stay here by the old mill house instead, we can keep warm in the lean to."  Fynnon Fair - St Mary'ss Well
"So it was decided, we would have to stay. If I remember right  there was quite a lot of clouds and the moon stayed  hidden most of the time. An hour must have passed and although we were quite warm in the shelter of the old mill, every now and then a strange whistling sound was heard.
"There is goes again!" Jenny said. "What do you think it is Brock?"
Well I couldn't say I did, cause I didn't know either, and your Uncle Cled didn't hear a thing, he was fast asleep. he could sleep anywhere old Cled." Uncle Brock smiled.
"What happened then Uncle Brock,  did you find the whistle?" An immediate "Hush!" came from around the fire.
"Well no Tudor, we never did for at that moment the whistling stopped and a strange scrapping noises started instead. It was then that Jenny noticed a light in the old chapel grounds. In fact there were two light's wavering about. We reckoned they must have been torches, as candles would have blown out, what with the wind getting up again.
        Then we really did begin to get frightened, for the next moment a bell started to ring.
"Oh my gosh,!" Jenny squealed, "I think there is someone in the old chapel and they are ringing the old bell."
the old mill"Don't be stupid, there hasn't been a bell hanging there for years." Cled moaned, still half asleep.
"Then how do you explain the ringing sound?" Jenny asked, kicking him so he would wake up.
"Poor Uncle Cled!" Immy said, "Shush" Came the immediate response.
"As I said Jenny kicked Cled. Cled rolled over, fell off the plank he was lying on, straight into the mill stream. There he was, pitch black in the Mill stream, and it must have been about midnight by now.
"Oh my goodness, did he get very wet Uncle Brock." Everyone was huddled together now , with the fire between them and Uncle Brock telling the story.
"Nope, that he didn't. That old stream hadn't been used in years, though it did have a few inches of ice and snow in the bottom if I remember rightly." He smiled again, "Though he did let out an awful yell."
"Shush," Jenny wailed, "they will hear us, whoever they are."
        We sat there, the three of us, one in the mill stream, and two on the bank. Shush, be quiet
The noise from the old chapel had stopped and the lights had gone out. We didn't know what to do.
"Come down here Cled whispered, what ever it is, it  won't think of looking in here?"
So Jenny and myself jumped into the stream next to Cledwyn.
We huddled under the few bracken fronds that were still alive, waiting, waiting. We could hear the sound of something breathing close by, but we were all too afraid to take a peep. 
         After about twenty minutes the breathing and footsteps went away in the direction of the bridge.
It was then we decided to go over to the chapel and see what had been going on. I don't remember who it was who made this suggestion, but it really wasn't a good idea, looking back on it now.
"Oh do get on with it Brock! These little ones have to go to their beds, if you're going to stop all the time thinking as to what could have happened, they will have to miss the end." Aunt Izzy shouted from the steps.
"No! No! No!" shouted all the little ones at once, "oh don't let us go to bed not yet, please Aunt IzzyAuntie Izzy, please-e-e!
"Ten minutes, then Brock, no longer, ok." Izzy said walkng back up the path, lighting the torches as she went.
       Uncle Brock threw a few more pieces of wood on the fire and sat back down on the big log closer to the heat.
"Now where were we, oh yes! One by one we climbed up the wall and out from the mill stream. The clouds had drifted away altogether now courtesy of the wind, and now a wintery moon shone out over the chapel ruins."
         "We were just going through the old iron gate when the bell rang, oh my goodness.
 Dark or not, we were across that bridge all three of us as if the King of the Fairies, Oberon,  himself was after us. Cled went first, then Jenny next. I was last, I turned round to see if anyone was following, but there wasn't. Turning back I slipped and my back leg slipped between the old planks, Cled and Jen ran back to help me, and it was then we saw it.
"Saw what, what," shouted the little ones cuddling in closer to the big ones.
"A huge red eye and it was coming straight towards us. So which way do we go, towards the Chapel or towards the Sett, either way it seemed we were trapped."
"The eye was coming closer and closer, I still had my back leg stuck down the plank. Jenny stood behind me shaking and Cled in front of me shaking even more."
Brock stopped for a moment to light his pipe, the light shone on his face, he looked quite ghostly. Immy thought as she smiled at her still new family gathered round her. She looked over the small group towards her sister, she actually looked happy again, it had been good moving to Fingles Wood.
Uncle Brock had started to relate the story again.
        "And there we were in the middle of the bridge, it was swaying slightly in the wind, then we realised the bell had stopped ringing, it was suddenly very quiet, we jumped as the chapel gate creaked on its hinges. Oh my goodness, what were we to do!
 Then a voice sounded on the wind. "Jennifer, Brock, Cledwyn is that you on the bridge." It was Grandfer Thomas, he had come out looking for us, guessed we had stayed at the old mill. "At least I credited you with a little sense, Brock you silly boy, what were you thinking of keeping young Jenny out. The both of you should have had more sense." Granfer Thomas bellowed.
"But what about the red eye, Uncle Brock, what about the eye!" The little ones shouted.
Brock started to laugh again. Ha, ha, ha it was his pipe, ha, ha, ha. He lit his pipe on the path and the flame had shone on his white blaze. Ha, ha, ha." Brock was laughing so much he almost fell off his log.
"Oh but, but what about the chapel and the lights, what about them. Uncle Brock."
"Well I was just about to tell you about them." He smiled at Eddy and Immy, "It was picking the Christmas Tree that reminded me of our frightening experience, you see - -"
Uncle Brock walked over to the two girls. "As you know your Mother, Jenny, was with us that night, and it was the same night old Granfer Tom's brothers had gone to pick out the tree for decorating. And because they didn't want any of the children to see it decorated before Christmas, they had gone out in the evening the same evening we stayed out."
This was the girls first Christmas Tree in Fingles WoodOh Uncle Brock, so the tree, the tree is Our Mothers Christmas Tree, we are going to decorate our Mothers Christmas Tree."

        Well children, you can guess the rest I'm sure. Immy and Eddy cried as they cuddled into their Uncle Brock's big arms. All the little ones, and the not so little ones, joined in as well, so that when Aunti Izzy arrived to take the little ones to bed, she was met with sobs on either side.
"Well Brock, if this is how you entertain the kids on a cold winter's night. You'd better wait till the summer for your next tale. " Aunt Izzy smiled. "Come on all of you. Let's get into the warmth of the Caves, and some hot cocoa down you all I think."
She turned to Irma and Edna, "And that my dear's is what we gave your ma when they eventually got her home. Enjoy the story did you." she smiled and drew the girls into her arms and kisses there furry heads.
"Bed now my dear's, Eh!"

                      *         *         *
(And here, my lovely ones  is a small picture of the old Chapel of St. Mary's Well , truly it is and if you type into your browser,
"Old ruined Chapel St. Marys. Cefn Meiriadog."

Which is where Seligor and Diddily come from, you will find this  small piece of  information on it very interesting.

"Only a single well of Our Lady achieved status as an object of more than local veneration, in a sanctuary where it was the principal focus of devotion. This was the well-shrine known as Capel Ffynnon Fair, the Chapel of Mary's Well, at Cefn Meiriadog, in Denbighshire. Even here, the evidence is frugal, and in the main can only be deduced from the ruins of the shrine itself. Not a single reference to it has been traced from the pre-Reformation period, and the first mention is the simple notation ‘Cap: Funhown vaier’ on Christopher Saxton's 1579 map of Flintshire and Denbighshire. A rhyming calendar in Welsh, dated 1609, under fifteenth August, conveys the fact that the principal date for pilgrimages was the feast of the Assumption, and demonstrates that pilgrimages were still in full swing there, seventy years after the Reformation."

'Gwyl fair gynta or kynhaia
ysbort a gair yn ffynhownfair'

(quoted in Thomas 1908, p.395, note 1)

which may be translated as

'[On] the first feast of Mary in harvest
[the common Welsh designation of the Assumption feast]
"fun and games" [lit, sport and word] at Ffynnon Fair.')



read The Brave Monkey Pirate at bluebison.net


THE NEW SCHOOL "WAS" ABOUT TO OPEN

       
       The end of January brought with it some very bad frost, and through February and March the snow and sleet poured into the valley. It was now nearly the end of April and it was still so cold it had actually froze the old mill stream quiet over, and as it wasn't very deep it became a fabulous skating lane, not very wide but well long, it was terrific.
Those who had skates wore them, and those that didn't, just slid on their bottoms, he, he. That was most mornings sorted and then in the afternoon it was up to the Cefn Mawr and the football pitch, well the hill behind the football pitch really.
"The best place for sledging in the whole of Wales," so Grandfer Thomas used to say, Uncle Cled told them as he helped the little ones pull their sleighs back to the top. "Grand days them!" he spluttered, out of breath at the top of the bank.
"Grandfer Thomas, I have never heard of Grandfer Thomas before Uncle Cled." Immy said dragging little Wilhimena Weasel out of the snow.
"Stevie! Cedrick! Will you please stop burying your sister in the snow. It is not very funny!" Eddy yelled after the vanishing sledge.
 "Those young weasels are going to end up causing that young thing some harm one day."  Uncle Cled said shaking his head, I think I shall have to talk to their mother and father. Young Willy goes through a lot of hasel, I shall be glad when the school opens." He frowned and shook his head,"What do you reckon to next month girls?" Eddy  sat on her sled but didn't go anywhere."What! do you mean this Tuesday coming, the third of May?"
"Sounds like a good day to me, what you think Immy?" She shouted down the hill. "School to open 3rd May, that gives us the whole weekend to get it nice and warm! Yep, that sounds OK to me?"
"And me, I will be glad to get into a warm class room. It has not got as be as tiring as this, I'm exhausted Ed, and talk about being bruised. I think it will be a trip to Auntie Izzy's after tea to use the hot tub. I have been bashed, buffered, and bullied by every little one in the woods." Immy threw herself down on her sledge, her fur was plastered to her back, with as much mud, as snow covering it.
"Oh my goodness, what have you been doing down there? You look like you have been in a war and lost." Uncle Cled laughed.
"I have been, and I think I was the only one on my side. I am sure those little horrors were finding the molehills in the snow and I was pelted with half snow, half mud balls!" she rolled over in the clean snow, in the hope of removing some of the mud from her body.
"Come on you two, let's collect the little horrors and give them back to the Fingles Wood before it gets dark! So it's going to be May then is it. Great. Then it will be pay back time!" Immy and Eddy smiled at each other. "Give us five, On the side and with that the two girls rolled down the hill and flat out on the football pitch. To be easily set upon by a dozen or more of their would be School Children.

"ROLL ON Monday!"  Shouted Immy.
"ROLL ON May!" Shouted Eddy.

"ROLL ON THE OPENING DAY OF THE SCHOOL OF FINGLES WOOD!"




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