First Scarecrow Festival a hit with villagers

Dozens of new faces could be seen in a County Durham village during its first ever Scarecrow Festival.
Shotton Residents Asociation first scarecrow festival - Business winner Croft House Residential HomeShotton Residents Asociation first scarecrow festival - Business winner Croft House Residential Home
Shotton Residents Asociation first scarecrow festival - Business winner Croft House Residential Home

Residents in Shotton decided to stage their own festival and it proved to be a huge success.

Almost 30 people and groups took part, creating an amazing array straw creations to enjoy.

Shotton Residents Association first scarecrow festival - residential winner Peter watson on Westgarth Grove, Shotton.Shotton Residents Association first scarecrow festival - residential winner Peter watson on Westgarth Grove, Shotton.
Shotton Residents Association first scarecrow festival - residential winner Peter watson on Westgarth Grove, Shotton.
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The Bank Holiday weekend event was organised by Shotton Residents’ Association in a bid to bring the community together – and it fully achieved its aim.

Joyce Lovack, secretary of the association, said she was thrilled with the amount of interest sparked by the festival and people are already talking about ideas for next year’s entries.

She said: “It was absolutely brilliant.

“There were 19 residents took part and eight businesses, which was fantastic for the first time.

“We were very, very happy with the amount of scarecrows we had.

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“I was amazed by the standard of them and the amount of work people had put into creating them, they were all great.”

The winner of the residential category was Peter Watson, who created a scene from a coal mine shaft in his garden at Shotton’s Westgarth Grove.

And, the winner of the business category was Croft House care home with its scene of residents.

There were also lots of scarecrows created by village schoolchildren.

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On the Saturday the association collected together a number of the scarecrows for visitors to the Jack Turnbull Hall to see, where more than 70 people went along to view them and enjoy a buffet and get-together.

Joyce said: “It was so lovely to see everyone together, talking about the event and saying they can’t wait to do it again next year. It made it a pleasure to have organised.

“We want to bring back a closer knit community to Shotton, like we had years ago.

“The Scarecrow Festival was one of the ways we can get people talking to their neighbours over the garden fences again.”

Among the other scarecrow creations this year included a queen, a nun, a vicar, midwives and Bill and Ben.

Joyce said she hopes the festival will become and annual event, growing bigger each year.