Little Gems - The Witches and the Grinnygog
Click here to listen to the start music (500Kb mp3 file)
Click here to listen to the end music (650Kb mp3 file)
The Witches and the Grinnygog by Dorothy Edwards
Episode Five
An absolute tons of old and important stuff is now arriving for the museum as people in the village clear out their attics and cellars. The children are almost overwhelmed with so much new material. Colin has also reached an important point in translating the diaries, four down and only one more to go. The villagers do not need anything to remind them of the past now that the spirit is around again said Miss Bendybones to the Vicar when he told her of all the new material. The Vicar is unsure of what she meant by that and heads off to finish his book.
Anyone recognise the church ?
Later that morning at the Firkettles, a stranger arrives at the door asking for Mrs. Ems. A young girl dressed in old fashioned clothes is asking for her and seems unsure as to where to look next. The stranger informs Mrs. Firkettle that Mrs. EMS is also looking for someone. The girl does not stay and refuses the invitation to go inside.
Back at the church Nan says how sorry she is that Miss Bendybones is leaving.
Miss Bendybones tells her not to be sorry as everything as worked out the way
it was supposed to - she'll see. Nan removes some cobwebs off Miss Bendybones
hair and wonders where they came from as the house is spotless. Nan tells Colin
about hearing voices upstairs in the loft and the two think that Miss Bendybones
has someone up there. The children go into the to check but find nothing. The
Vicar tells them to leave it as their maybe a rat causing the noise. Nan still
believes there were people up in the loft and thinks it was the third guardian.
Jimmy arrives at the church and tells the children that the girl is back down
in the church grounds. They all rush over only to find the dummy sitting on
a garden bench. The finger has been fixed which is very strange since the children
put the finger tip in a box. Suddenly Jimmy tells them all to hush as he hears
something lovely. He walks to the door and tells them to come in but to keep
quiet. As they enter the church door they can smell lilac or something similar.
On the floor in front of the stained glass window the three guardians are lay. They watch the children approach and then tell them to lie down as it the best way to see it. The children do as they are bid and lie down on the cold stone floor. Miss Bendybones start to chant.
"Goodness is goodness"
"Peace is peace"
"Our blessing is forever"
They all hold hands and look up. There is a painting on the ceiling of four angels with pipes. As they all look up, the stars start to twinkle, then the sun shines brightly and they are bathed in the light of the picture. One by one the angels start to move and play their pipes. Everyone feels wonderful but then as quickly as it started it returns to normal.
That was better than a hilltop says Miss Bendybones. The three guardians leave happy and are followed by the children except for Jimmy who remains on the floor of the church. As they leave the door, the three guardians are walking with the dummy in between which appears to be moving by itself.
The third guardian, Edie decides to go into the village to see her old cottage and remarks that is hardly changed at all in the years. She is not too sure what the big metal bit on top of the roof is - the aerial. She knocks on the door and an old woman answers. They stare at each other for a moment and then the silver haired owner recognises her as Edie her long ,lost relative. Elsewhere Essie is still dreaming of being an actress starring in a play. Dave is doing sums on a calculator. Everything appear to have fallen back into place, but there is still a big mystery to solve which Colin and Nan have not forgotten about.
Edie is enjoying her visit to her old relative and even though they worship different Gods, she is made most welcome. Mrs. Possett (the new home owner) offers Edie a long soak in a hot bath.
Later on, Mrs. Firkettle rushes into the front room and tells Essie and Dave that she needs some fresh air and goes off for a walk much to the surprise of her children. She walks out near the busy road and climbs over a gate. She walks deep into the woods and until she thinks she hears something. We see some black shoes walking in the same woods. Something spooks Mrs. Firkettle and she starts running through the woods. She sees nothing as she stops to look back. Suddenly she runs into Marg'ret who begs her to stop. The girl calls Mrs. Firkettle mistress and tells her she is lost. Mrs. Firkettle takes her hand and guides her out of the woods. The girls says her name is Marg'ret but that some people call her Daisy. As they approach the village from the top of a hill, Marg'ret starts getting anxious. She calls the lights in the village demons and that she cannot go into the village when it is full of evil lights. Marg'ret starts to recount the night they burnt the village and chased out supposed evil. As Mrs. Firkettle looks down on the village, she starts to see huge bonfires burning in the night. She starts to feel unwell and Marg'ret then starts to accuse her of being one of them, one of them which caused her Mum and the others to leave. She spits at Mrs. Firkettle and runs off into the night. Mrs. Firkettle take a moment or two to come around and then looks back down into the village, it appears normal and there is no evidence of any fires. She does not understand what has just happened but is most upset by her ordeal with Marg'ret
The Firkettle children are very worried when their mum finally returns home. She tries to explain to them what happened and Dave tapes the conversation. Mum is very upset about the event and even more upset when she realises she has not done the washing. The children offer to go down the launderette the very next day in order to help her out.
The next morning Edie and Miss Possett enter the launderette. They say hello to the children who instantly recognise the guardian and Miss Possett their old Sunday school teacher. Edie starts to put plants and grass inside the washing tub and finally places a caterpillar inside before starting the cycle apparently with no use of money. The washing machine soon fills up with soap suds and much to the amazement of the other people in the shop the machine starts to change the plants and grass into something wonderful. Edie casts a spell and the washing machine cycle comes to an end. As the door is opened, a beautiful hat emerges from the washing machine covered in flowers and ribbon Miss Possett is overjoyed at her present from Edie..
A gift to her niece from her Great Great Aunt to wear on Midsummer's eve.
Having now done the washing, the Firkettle children now take the tape to Colin
and Nan to listen. They realise that whilst Daisy was clutching tight on to
Mrs. Firkettle, she was able to see the village all those years ago and the
terrible happenings that took place there. The diary recounts the story of a
Marg'ret Ems running away from the fires that had been built fore the evil ones.
They realise she is the same girl and she is still running away after all this
time. Colin looks to the diary for help but the diary finishes abruptly in midst
sentence. "Tomorrow being Mid Summers Eve, the village festive" are
the very last words. Nan thinks the Cannon possibly died writing the last words.
The children are not sure what to do next until the Vicar arrives and tells
them that Mr. Alabaster has returned.
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Episode 5
|