GALLERY: Straw poll as Hordle scarecrow competition is under way
A DOWNING Street briefing with Boris Johnson, Matt Hancock and Chris Whitty is among the entries for the Hordle Scarecrow Competition this year.
Covid-19 features heavily in the event, organised by the Hordle and District Twinning Association, with another scarecrow dubbed ‘Cummings and Goings’ as a lookalike effigy of political aide Dominic Cummings.
Another entry, ‘Keyworker Caped Crusaders’, pays tribute to the those who have kept the country going through the coronavirus pandemic including NHS and supermarket workers.
Bob Norley, chairman of the association, said he feared the annual event might be called off because of Covid-19 – but has instead given people a chance to have a bit of fun in difficult times.
He said: “We felt we would have to cancel as normally people take part by filling in a form available at local shops. Once the scarecrows are up and ready, trail maps are given out by the stores so that people can go and look at them and then vote for their favourites.
“But as a lot of stores were only operating with contactless pay due to the pandemic, we could not give out forms or maps.
“We were thinking of calling the competition off but so many people asked if it was going ahead, we decided to find a way to keep it going.”
He added: “We asked for entries by email and the trail map is available online for people to download.
“We have less entries than normal, but we still have 12 really good scarecrows for people to view, which I think is fantastic.”
People can vote online for the best scarecrow by a business, and the best by a household. There is also a drawing competition for children who can enter by creating a picture of their favourite scarecrow. A photograph of the drawing should be emailed to the twinning association by 6th September.
Anyone downloading a trail map is asked to make a donation towards PATCH – Parents and Teachers in the Community of Hordle – which is raising funds to build an outside gym at the local village school.
Voting is open until the second week in September.
Trail maps can be downloaded at www.facebook.com/hordletwinning/
