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Setting up temporary gnomes

Alex Bell
25/ 6/2008

HEIGH-HO, HEIGH-HO, it was off to Henbury we go! AGAIN.

The sleepy village woke up last Friday (June 20) to a new invasion of bearded little gnome-ads – two and a half years after 29 little men first turned up and made the village their gn-home.

Eight comrades down and with one or two looking a little dopey and sleepy, they mysteriously reappeared on Church Lane in Henbury at the exact same spot. Why, gnome-one knows.

At least discipline doesn’t appear to have deserted the beardie men, who were found perfectly placed in a row from St Thomas’ Church to the Millennium Green.

Sadly they didn’t hang around long enough to explain their gnome-adic adventures since by yesterday (Tuesday, June 24) they had picked up their mini napsacks and hit the road once more.

Joyce Critchlow, who lives opposite the vicarage, said: "It’s sad they’ve gone. Maybe it’s because one of them was broken in the wind over the weekend, I don’t know. No-one seems to have any idea where they came from but it sure is fun. They came without notice and left without notice."

As non-plussed as his parishioners, local vicar, Reverend Gary Bowness, was left scratching his head.

"No one’s got a clue where they appeared from – it must have been in the middle of the night," he said.

"I wasn’t vicar last time they were here but I quite liked them."

Ann Cousin of Hightree Drive, Henbury, noticed the gnomes when she was driving through the village late on Thursday. She said: "It’s strange that the gnomes are back again. I have no idea why they have turned up again and can’t quite believe it. People around the village are talking about them and guessing who did it."

Villagers all want to believe they’ll return before the end of summer.

Just ten months after they first appeared in December 2005, 23 of the 29 gnomes vanished without explanation, leaving six to be given away to residents who could offer the miniature men a home to rest their sleepy heads.