Challenged by Lockdown Tier 3, Wickersley Parish Council set a half term Garden Scarecrow Challenge for 'The Children of Wickersley' with an amazing response.

Said Cllr Sue Ellis, Chair, Wickersley Parish Council, "Wickersley is a busy and active Parish Council and we had a long list of events planned for this year – all of which have had to be cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic. But each time we've cancelled an event because it was 'Covid unsafe' we've challenged ourselves to replace it with a 'Covid safe' one.

So, to replace our Woodland Lantern Walk we came up with the idea of the Garden Scarecrow Challenge! We ordered 2 huge bales of straw, bought loads of sacks and invited local people to join in, stuff a scarecrow and place it where it can be seen from the road to create a 'Scarecrow Trail' around the village for everyone to enjoy on their local walks!

The response was absolutely amazing – over 250 bags of straw were given out and we've got over 125 scarecrows positioned around the village with their photos posted on our Facebook page for everyone to see, find and enjoy! (click here to have a look for yourself)

This event was particularly timely as families faced this Autumn half term with the added restrictions of Tier 3. It's been great to see just how everyone has embraced this challenge - grandparents, parents and particularly, once again, 'The Children of Wickersley'."

The imagination and creativity which came into play when creating the scarecrows was just fantastic - here are a selection of Literary and Film characters - can you recognise any of them?

Cousin IT from the Addams family, Bride of Chucky and Nagini, The Fat Controller, Harry Potter, a selection of character from The Wizard of Oz and Postman Pat and Peter Rabbit

Rotherham United players were well represented - not quite a full squad - but maybe a full team next year??

Wickersley ALWAYS has room for Superheroes - and there are so many more than these film / literary characters as we've all witnessed during this pandemic

This event was close to Remembrance Day and so lovely to see that this theme was picked up in the design of this scarecrow - very poignant! The poppies were an additional and very special touch. I'm sure that everyone will appreciate how good it is to see that after so, so many years - these heroes have not been forgotten!

And finally - how lovely it was to see that even when having fun some of the children were thinking of others and the real heroes in our fantastic NHS and so very 2020 / Covid-19 with their facemasks!