Scarecrow competition cheers up villagers !

ONE resident’s idea to cheer up her village, has proved to be a huge success and fellow villagers have proved to be very imaginative in making and displaying their contributions.

Thea Stother’s winning Harry Potter scarecrow

Janet Carr lives in the village of Moreton, near Thame, and just recently, some in the village has felt somewhat inundated with various planning applications that threaten to increase traffic and disturb life generally in and around Moreton. She explained to Thame.Net how the very first Moreton Scarecrow Festival and competition came about:

“I had this mad idea that I wanted to cheer the village up and get the residents walking round Moreton and chatting to each other,” explained Janet, “and maybe put a smile on the faces of the many joggers, dog-walkers and cyclists who pass through every day. So I came up with the idea of a scarecrow competition, ran it past fellow villagers Ken Burch and Tina Fegent and with their help and encouragement formed a plan.

“I delivered entry forms to every house in the village and waited in trepidation to see if anyone would enter! I was absolutely delighted when 26 entries dropped through my door. The scarecrows were displayed outside peoples’ properties for one week and I delivered voting forms to every house in the village for all the residents to cast a vote for their favourite in the adult section, and the separate under-twelves section.

“All the scarecrows were superb; people had really used their imagination and every one deserved to win. The final result was announced when all the people who had made a scarecrow gathered at the War memorial on Sunday morning (September 30) with their scarecrows if they could carry them!

Scarecrows at the bus stop in Moreton!

The winners of the adult section were Greta and Rex Harvey with a fantastic, decorated version of a traditional scarecrow, and they received a Garden Token donated by Ken Burch.

The winner of the under-twelves section was Thea Stother with her very life-like Harry Potter entry, and she received a Toy-shop token, also kindly donated by Ken Burch. Each under twelve entrant was given a congratulatory certificate for their scarecrow, as they had all made such a good effort.

Janet concluded: “I’m really pleased that I went ahead with my mad idea, and maybe Moreton will have another scarecrow competition next year!”