History of the Wetwang Scarecrow Festival
The Wetwang Scarecrows…
The scarecrows arrived in Wetwang in 2003. Our first scarecrow festival was conceived by the Village Hall Committee as a fundraising activity for the newly-erected Wetwang Village Community Hall and – six years later – it has grown to become the village’s most important event of the year.
Thanks to the enthusiastic response of residents our scarecrow count has increased every year and we expect to see well over 100 cleverly-crafted scarecrows appearing in gardens, open spaces, hidden corners and even on rooftops in 2008.
The so-called ‘guardian of the crops’ has been around for more than 3,000 years and can be discovered all over the world and throughout time in literature, art and festivals. The scarecrow was originally created to frighten off crows but is increasingly replaced these days by more hi-tech bird-scaring solutions – and is therefore more likely to feature in a horror film than a field!
Did you know..?
…scarecrows are known as many different things all over the UK such as “tattybogles”, “shoy-hoys”, “jacks-of-straw” and even “hodmedods”!
…there were over 100 scarecrows in last year’s festival, although many more scarecrows were spotted in various positions around the village.
…the 2006 festival will be remembered for kidnappings, mysterious sightings and disappearances. No-one knows what became of the buxom blonde who was abducted under cover of the night but Freddie Kruger disappeared at the same time…
… last year’s winning scarecrows included a hooligan, a popstar (Elton John) and a world-famous sportsperson (Monty Panesar). The judges also awarded prizes to monsters, daleks and wizards.
