GALLERY: Villagers come out for scarecrow competition
Residents of a village have come together as lockdown eases to host a scarecrow competition.
More than 40 households in Creswell, a village in Staffordshire, created their own scarecrows and displayed them outside their homes.
The competition was organised by residents Michael and Sharon Craney, Janice Gormley, Clive Tatler and Claire Hastings, who formed a group within the Parish after the village lost all its parish councillors following a mass resignation and a petition of no confidence signed by more than 120 residents.
Michael, 48, said: "In January we ousted the Parish Council because they were out of touch with the residents, so we set up this group to get things done, then more people came to us and asked what they could do to contribute.
"We have done a number of litter picks and coffee mornings, earlier this year we had 50 families out helping us litter pick, but these all had to be postponed due to Covid-19.
"After lockdown we wanted to do something to bring the community together so we organised the competition.
"We have got all of the generations taking part, from grandparents to children."
The winners of the competition included scarecrows designed as Bill and Ben the Flowerpot Men and a man hunting for moles with his head in the ground.
Michael added: "Everyone has made the effort. It's become a bit of a tourist attraction, some people who saw us setting up in the week have come back today to see all of the scarecrows.
"The traffic has even slowed down through the village so people can stop and look at them.
"We hope to do this every year and continue with out litter picks, footpath clearing and community days throughout the year and at Christmas.
"It's great to see how something like this can bring the neighbourhood back together."
