THE first ever Rockwell Green scarecrow competition took place last week and many residents were hard at work creating a wide variety of themes for their entries.

Forty-two households entered the competition, set up by Wellington town Cllr Zoe Barr and her councillor farther Marcus Barr.

Zoe said: “Judging has been very difficult due to the standard of scarecrows which is very high. We just want to say a massive thank you to everyone who took part.

“Families have had such great fun making their scarecrows and it has brought a little bit of joy into people’s lives at a time when the cost of living crisis is making things so tough for them.”

Judges for the event, including Wellington’s deputy mayor Cllr Nancy Powell-Brace, went around the village over the weekend and narrowed the competition down to a top five before the winning places were decided.

The winning entry was by Lisa Holcombe, of Greenway Road, who was helped by her children, five-year-old twins Theo and Oakley, and Preston, age six, who modelled it on their pipe-smoking granddad. Lisa said: “It was good for granddad to help the kids. It was not too bad making the scarecrow, but the head was the tricky bit. We did have to put concrete in the wellies to keep it standing.”

The standard was so high that second and third places were both shared.

Runners-up spot was shared by Rowena Agate, of Blackdown Road, and Leyla Baker, of Gillards Close.

Rowena’s scarecrow was made with the help of her children Tina, Fabian, and Benny-Jr Watts after the recent rail strikes forced them to stay home instead of going for a day out.

Layla’s entry was modelled on builder husband Chris and their son Noah, who helped stuff the legs. “I made a few mistakes but I learned from them and had really good fun doing it,” she said.

In equal third place were Nadine Stanyard, of Rockwell Green road, and Bruce Coppard, of Brooklands Road.

Nadine and her children, Nina-mae and Maddison Stanyard, were helped by nanny Patrina Middleton, with their innovative ‘crow scaring for dummies’ entry.

She said: “We were not even going to enter but I am glad we did. As a family we just really enjoyed making it.

“We thought that if we did not know what we were doing, then why not make him not know what he is doing either.”

Bruce said: “It was good fun. I have lived in the UK for 20 years and I have never had the community spirit quite like this. I wanted to make just a classic scarecrow, with the chequered top.”

Grace Pallant, 11-year-old Lynne Greedy, and Duncan Pallant, of Dobree Park, were highly commended for thinking outside of the box with their Freddy Mercury-inspired design. ‘I Want to Break Free’ and the adapted lyrics ‘I want to grow beans’.

Marcus told the Wellington Weekly: “It has been such a great success that we will definitely be doing it again next year. Quite a few people said they were not able to do it this year, but they will join in next time.”