Save the Dates: Tenth Anniversary Haddenham Scarecrow Festival 7-29 June 2025!
The Haddenham Scout and Guide Association is delighted to announce the dates and benefiting charities for their 10th Anniversary Haddenham Scarecrow Festival! The 2025 Festival will run from 7th to 29th June, the first fortnight coinciding with Bucks Arts Weeks.
Funds raised from this year’s Scarecrow Festival will be divided between two local organisations that provide cancer support services, with a theme of “Strength and Hope”.
Half of the funds raised this year will be donated to Aylesbury Vale Prostate Cancer Support Group. All members, including Haddenham residents Richard Veness and Brian Cole, have had prostate cancer and survived thanks to an early diagnosis and a variety of treatments.
The Group supports men, their partners and families at a difficult time. They hold two PSA Testing days each year for local men aged 40yrs+ and subsidise the cost of this. Men are given quick results and, if required, are advised to follow up results with their GP. Approx 10% of men tested need follow up and without the test they may have been unaware of their condition. Prostate cancer is now England’s most common form of the disease.
The other cause being supported this year is the Cancer Care and Haematology Unit (CCHU) at Stoke Mandeville Hospital. This choice was inspired by Haddenham resident, Paula Tompkins. Paula was so impressed and grateful for the dedication of the staff there and the treatment she received for cancer, that she organised a series of Haddenham fundraising events throughout 2024, including bingo, bucket shaking, cake sale and a table top sale, which raised much needed funds towards helping local cancer and haematology patients. From high-tech equipment and comfortable chairs to wigs and pleasant spaces..small things can make a big difference.
The suggested theme of “Strength and Hope” has been inspired by the above charities. Festival organiser Francesca Flaxton explains: “This can be interpreted in numerous ways..power, superhero's, wolves, lions, eagles, doves, olive branch, Phoenix, sunrise, rainbow, light etc etc! Some people may also choose to incorporate the number 10 in some way to celebrate our decade. The only limit is your imagination!”
In celebration of the Festival’s Tenth Anniversary, the Scout and Guide Association is determined to recruit 100 entries! Can you help us achieve this? Anyone can take part – individuals, families, neighbours, whole streets, local businesses, schools, community groups and organisations – the only rule is you need to EITHER live in Haddenham AND/OR have a visible premises in the village where you can display your entry. In the meantime, please save the dates – 7th to 29th June – and start to think about what you could create.
Full details of how to enter the Scarecrow Festival and donate will be published later in the year but you can express your interest now at this link
Alternatively, please contact Haddenham Scout & Guide Association c/o Francesca Flaxton at scarecrowhaddenham.festival@gmail.com or text 07554 141810
Francesca Flaxton
February 2025
