These creations were voted the top three at the Haddenham Scarecrow festival

Over 100 incredible creations took up the challenge for the 2021 Haddenham Scarecrow Festival.

The 2020 Haddenham Scarecrow Festival - held in lockdown - broke all records, exceeded all possible expectations and set the bar high, but the people of Haddenham took up the challenge once again and put on another fantastic show of creativity for the 6th annual event.

This event was created and set up by the Haddenham Association of Scouts and Guides in 2016, initially as a fundraising event, but also to raise the profile of Scouting and Guiding in the village.

The festival has never been run as a competition, and every single entry was valued, created with care, humour and community spirit. Each creator will receive a Certificate of Participation.

Generous donations in aid of the Florence Nightingale Hospice Charity were made online or in cash further boosted by Gift Aid. It is anticipated that the Festival will raise in excess of its £2000 goal.

Donations will be welcomed until the end of June and the final total will be publicised in July.

Although not organised as a competition, people were invited to vote for their three favourites.

The organisers are grateful to Haddenham Garden Centre for donating Afternoon Tea vouchers to the 3 Scarecrows receiving the most votes, which were:

1st Favourite - No 14 Fairfieldasaurus by Team Jurassic Close

Families from four households in Fairfield Close worked together to create the largest Scarecrow the Festival has ever seen!

Emma Herlihy and neighbour Jenny came up with the idea of making a dinosaur and everyone got involved in different ways.

His body was constructed by Chris from 2 pallets, with fence posts for his legs. His frame and tail were formed with chicken wire and he was stuffed with lots of straw! 15 metres of fabric was used to cover the structure, including old bedsheets dyed green and sewn together with strong carpet thread.

The children made the giant dinosaur egg and other residents worked on the “Jurassic Close” sign.

Emma said: “His eyes are made from solar panels, which glow in the dark so he looks a bit creepy at night!

"We’ve really enjoyed doing it and are already thinking about what we can do next year!”

2nd Favourite - No 76 Fern Lane Circus by the Residents of Fern Lane

Fern Lane resident, Sarah Heydon came up with the idea of collectively creating a Scarecrow Circus and persuaded 9 households to take part.

Every house got involved, even if they didn’t make a scarecrow, by decorating the whole street with bunting, banners and circus signs.

Young residents Tilly and Freya enjoyed helping too. Their Mum said: "We all became closer during lockdown via our WhatsApp group and it’s been lovely for us all to do something together."

The residents already have some ideas about what they can do for the 2022 Festival!

3rd Favourite - No 32 Who’s Stolen Mr McGregor’s Carrots by Stephanie Green

Stephanie has entered the Scarecrow Festival every year since 2018. Last year’s entry “Spiderman Seb” was made for one of her grandsons, Seb.

This year, she created her display for four-year-old grandson Rafi, who loves Peter Rabbit. Rafi will be keeping Peter Rabbit.

Stephanie said “I’ve really enjoyed seeing and talking to so many people who walk by during the Festival, especially the children on their way to and from school.

"I’ll be making next year’s display for my granddaughter….and there are two more after that so I’m committed for the next three years!”

Including the 3 above, the 10 entries that received the most votes were:

4. Darth Vader by Jackie and Will

5. A Great British Summer Holiday by Cherry Waller

6. The Scarecrow Scarer by Team Brady

7. The Gruffalo and Friends by Margaret & David Ackroyd

8. Mr Pots by Team Tipping/Barrett

9. Mary Poppins meets Sonic by the Pigden Family

10. Robin of Townsend Green by Mr and Mrs Potter.

Other popular entries receiving multiple votes were: ‘Grandkids Family Holiday’, ‘Beware the Night Fury’, ‘Haddenham St Mary’s Year 2 Moon Scarecrows’, ‘Should have gone to Specsavers’, ‘Vacc-inate, vacc-inate, vacc-inate’, ‘The Name’s Bond’ and ‘Neighbourhood Watch’.

The Walker family said: "Thank you so much for the joy of the Scarecrow Festival."

Maggie said: "Well done - a great number of fantastic scarecrows again this year extremely difficult to choose and we have walked around to see them all."

Laura added: "Another wonderful display of scarecrows this year and it gets harder to pick three favourites."

Diccon said: "Such a good village event and a great community effort to make so many fantastic scarecrows!

"A special mention for all the families who made mini-beasts for the orchard."

There is a shortage of Scouts and Guides group leaders at the moment and they would love to hear from anyone who could volunteer. Please contact Francesca Flaxton on 07554141810 in the first instance.

The Scout and Guide Association would like to say a special thank you to everyone who helped with the Festival by selling maps, arranging local publicity or doing extra fundraising.