Bringing History to Life in the Village
For three consecutive years, the Martham Local History Group entered the Martham Scarecrow Festival, using straw, ingenuity, and a sense of humour to celebrate different eras of local and national history.
2010: The Old-School Teacher
An old-style school teacher was our choice for our entry to join nearly 200 others in the 2010 Martham Scarecrow Festival. With his mortarboard (made from an inside-out football and some pond liner), black gown and cane, he was a daunting presence in the garden of The Old School House. The idea was that he was leaning on the fence looking out for the children coming to school, as the head teacher in the Nineteenth Century may well have done.
We were grateful that the Old School House owners allowed us to erect him on such a suitable site. He certainly made an impression on the younger children. "Scary", one of them said, and they were pleased that their own modern teachers are a bit different. A good impression was made on the judges, too, who awarded him Third Place in the Traditional Scarecrow category.
2011: The Real Dad's Army
Our old scarecrow spent the last year sleeping in the beams of a member's garage, looking frighteningly lifelike! We decided that his bendy frame could be adapted to represent another historic period. As we had a visit later in the year from Neil Storey under the title "The Real Dad's Army", we wove a little tale around last year's Headmaster scarecrow being called out of retirement by the urgent needs of World War II.
Listening to his radio in 1940, he heard the call to help defend the country and bravely joined up with the Local Defence Volunteers, who became the Home Guard a couple of months later. These brave men did their bit to help us win the war, and this year our determined-looking scarecrow helped the History Group win overall third prize in the 2011 Martham Scarecrow Festival. Following on to last year’s award we were delighted. We hoped we could keep up the standard next year — but maybe with something a little less scary!
2012: The Teddy Boy
A brand new scarecrow this year — a 1950s Teddy Boy to complement our Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee. Featuring a hand-made and hand-painted face, with two hundred straw hairs added. Although there was no prize this year, as the winner was a Roman legionnaire, we felt that History had again done its bit. The Teddy Boy appeared again later, welcoming visitors to our Jubilee exhibition.
These photographs were taken by members Chris and Ann. Component parts were loaned by Nicola, Phil, Noel, and son-in-law, and the "sculptors" were again Pat and Noel.