The Haddenham Scarecrow Festival 2018 was a great success by any measure!
On behalf of the Haddenham Association of Scouts and Guides, I would like to say a massive THANK YOU to everyone who took part in this year's Scarecrow Festival.
We had 71 official entries plus several extra scarecrows that appeared around the village – what a fantastic response! Each one was totally unique, made from every possible material. The thought, creativity and sense of humour that evidently went into making them was incredible. Each Scarecrow designer has been awarded a much deserved Certificate of Participation for their efforts.
Although this is a Festival, not a Competition, this year, people were given the opportunity to vote for their three favourites. Votes have been counted and verified and the top three favourites were:
- Putting the World to Rights (Sue Loftus & Rachel Brant)
- Pot Hole Pete (Hawes family) and
- Magnificent Maleficent (the Kinghams).
The next favourites, who received an equal number of votes were:
- Andy #2 (Domestic Services)
- Jerome the Gnome (Margaret & David Ackroyd)
- The Red Lion (Green family)
- Strawbot (Adrian Marshall)
- Jack Barrow (Harding family)
- Duke & Duchess (Witney family) and
- Ruby (Haddenham Garden Centre).
Several others also received votes from Scarecrow fans. Congratulations to everyone!
Don't forget, you can see all the entries for this year's Scarecrow Festival in the Galleries section of this website.
Thank you to all the outlets who kindly agreed to sell Trail Maps after the Fete, namely Blooming Fruity, Haddenham Community Library, Haddenham Garden Centre, Haddenham Post Office, Bradmoor Farm and The Egg House Butchery.
As well as providing entertainment and fun, this year's Festival has so far raised over £1200. Fifty per cent of this will be sent to Helen & Douglas House charity and the other half will go towards running Scouting and Guiding units in Haddenham.
Douglas House sadly closed last week but the service for babies, children and young people aged 0-18 continues at Helen House and they still need public support to fund this vital care. Here is a statement from their Fundraising Team:
"We wish to take this opportunity to say thank you to the supporters of Helen & Douglas House and ask please that you continue to support us. The cost of running Helen House is £3m a year and we need your help now more than ever. The name of the organisation remains Helen & Douglas House for the foreseeable future but please be assured that your donations will be used to care for the terminally ill babies, children and young people at Helen House".
I have had such positive feedback from so many people of all ages who have loved walking and cycling around Haddenham on the Scarecrow Trail and the fine weather has certainly helped! Running the Festival during the Bucks Open Studios fortnight works really well, especially when there are Open Gardens to look at too.
We will be running the Scarecrow Festival again next year, so look out for details next Spring about how to enter. Could we aim for 100 entries next year?!
With grateful thanks
Francesca Flaxton
Festival Co-ordinator
Haddenham Association of Scouts and Guides
