An invasion of Wiggalls! (by sarah)
Yes Wiggalls not wiggly pets but Wiggalls, also spelt Wiggle and Wiggill. Every few years this extended family has a reunion and descends upon Cranham where some of the oldest records of the family show they live in the 1700 and 1800's. One of the properties they are thought to have lived at was Suttons Mill (the other building here where Alaric's aunt Barbara lives).
The records say treat with caution though and it is only definatly known that the Wiggall in question was a Miller in Cranham but the family still came to have a look around on Saturday afternoon.
I put on Tea, Coffee, squash and buiscuits for them - Barbara had triple booked herself for Saturday as she had an Opera in Cardiff and hadn't realised what time she had to be where. She did provide the posher buscuits mind!
We had known about the Wiggalls visit but had thought there would be about 12 people coming for tea and cake - instead Saturday morning I took a chocolate cake over to Barbara's to feed the horde when she a) announced she had forgotten about them and we needed to go and greet them at the village hall at 1 o'clock (Al wasn't due back from London until 2 as thats when she said they would be coming and b) that there were 100 American Wiggalls descending upon us expecting a historical tour of the place!!!! And me being me I went EEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeekkkkkkkkkkkkk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But at 1 o'clock I discovered that there were only 50 of them this year and not all of them would be coming - relief! There was also a lovely buffet lunch set which we were apparently invited too but Barbara couldn't hang around so I alas had to go.
The Wiggalls arrived and at the Mill at about 4 o'clock after saying they'd be here at 3! the photographer was late 🙂 They all seemed to enjoy the bits and bobs about the Mill that we could remember. And of course my piece de la resistonce - the Roman Urinal - I was thinking I should have had the photo of it out.
They took lots of photo's and signed the guest book and even bought Wiggle Pets 🙂 I should have brought out the post cards as they feature Wiggly Pets and bits of the Mill and garden but never mind! There was a little girl a bit younger than Jean with them so Jean had a great time showing her the slide - though it is wet!
Jean had got very excited about it all and had been abit confussed that the Wiggalls were going to be humans - she thought they were either giant wiggly pets, that band that sings Ferfer-esk songs, or dancing worms (I'm serious!).
They were all really nice and we even managed to end up in a discussion about metal work with some of them 🙂 They are from all over the place New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, America, Ireland and off course various local places round here!
They have demanded that we look after the place and mantian it or we will have the Wiggall clan down upon our heads! 🙂
It was a really nice afternoon once I stopped stressing about the fact they were coming. They signed the guest book and my events book - there were lots of previous entries for them in the Mills guestbook which was interesting 🙂
Building Maintenance, Events and Outings | sarah | 
Wed 20th May 2009 11:10 am
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